Florida Gators
UCF
No. 13 Florida Men's Tennis Defeats UCF, 7-0
Friday, February 1, 2008 | Men's Tennis
The No. 13 University of Florida men's tennis team came up with its second shutout win of the early season by blanking UCF, 7-0, Friday afternoon at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville. With the victory, UF improved to 2-1 on the year, while UCF dropped its season opener.
“This was an important win for us to be able to get some momentum heading into Sunday's match at No. 4 Baylor,” said UF head coach Andy Jackson. “I thought Greg (Ouellette) and Nestor (Briceno) were ready to go today and we needed them to be solid like they were.”
Florida worked quickly on the doubles courts to secure the 1-0 lead with wins at the top and bottom of the lineup. Florida's Nestor Briceno and Alex Lacroix defeated UCF's Nikolas Overkemping and Danny Colon, 8-1, in 31 minutes. Freshmen Jeff Dadamo and Tyler Hochwalt took out Johan Beigart and Brock Sakey just over 10 minutes later as they took an 8-5 decision on court one for their first win of the dual season. Florida's Greg Ouellette and Johnny Hamui held off Sinan Sudas and Claudio Romano on court two, 8-6, to give the Gators wins on each of the doubles courts.
Ouellette (No. 8) built the lead to 2-0 in Florida's favor with a 6-0, 6-1 showing against Overkemping at the top of the singles lineup. All of UF's singles wins would come in straight sets; however, Ouellette's took just 42 minutes.
Hochwalt kept it going by defeating Sakey, 6-2, 6-2 on court five. With the win, he improved to 3-0 in dual matches this year with each of his wins coming in straight sets.
As he did in Florida's season-opening victory, Briceno (No. 62) provided the clincher. This time by posting a 6-2, 6-1 score against Romano on court three.
“I feel good about the way things have gone just three matches into the season,” said Briceno. “There is a lot we can improve on and for me personally I'm not happy with my ground strokes, but that will come. The win today helped and it will build confidence for the team. It was good to rebound since confidence is going to be the biggest thing for us right now. We're just going to go to Baylor and fight, which is what we will do all season long.”
With the match settled, the remaining three courts in play wrapped up in a hurry. Hamui made the first singles appearance of his collegiate career and came away with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Colon on court six. Lacroix (No. 57) took a 6-2, 6-4 win against Beigart and Dadamo used the same score against Sudas on court four to give UF the shutout.
Florida returns to action as the Gators head to Waco, Texas, for a meeting with No. 4 Baylor on Sunday, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m. ET. UF has defeated Baylor, 4-3, in each of the last two meetings. On Florida's last trip to Waco (Jan. 29, 2006), the Gators ended Baylor's 61-match home win streak.
College Men's Tennis
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Gainesville, Fla.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Final Score: UF 7, UCF 0
Doubles
No. 1 Jeff Dadamo-Tyler Hochwalt (UF) def. Johan Beigart-Brock Sakey (UCF), 8-5
No. 2 Greg Ouellette-Johnny Hamui (UF) def. Sinan Sudas-Claudio Romano (UCF), 8-6
No. 3 Nestor Briceno-Alex Lacroix (UF) def. Nikolas Overkemping-Danny Colon (UCF), 8-1
Singles
No. 1 (8) Greg Ouellette (UF) def. Nikolas Overkemping (UCF), 6-0, 6-1
No. 2(57) Alex Lacroix (UF) def. Johan Beigart (UCF), 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 (62) Nestor Briceno (UF) def. Claudio Romano (UCF), 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 Jeff Dadamo (UF) def. Sinan Sudas (UCF), 6-2, 6-4
No. 5 Tyler Hochwalt (UF) def. Brock Sakey (UCF), 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 Johnny Hamui (UF) def. Danny Colon (UCF), 6-0, 6-1
Order of Finish: Doubles – 3, 1, 2 Singles – 1, 5, 3, 6, 2, 4
END OF REPORT
