Florida Gators
Florida State
No. 19 Men's Tennis Hands No. 14 Florida State First Loss of the Year
Saturday, February 9, 2008 | Men's Tennis
The No. 19 University of Florida men's tennis team gave No. 14 Florida State its first loss of the year and came up with one of its biggest as the Gators won, 5-2, Saturday afternoon at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville. The Gators remained perfect at home and improved their record to 4-2, while the Seminoles slipped to 6-1.
Florida head coach Andy Jackson improved to 30-2 against in-state opponents in his seven years at UF and in addition led the Gators to their eighth win in nine meetings with FSU under his direction.
“I am happy for the team,” said Jackson. “Florida State is a good team and (Nestor) Briceno did not play for us in the singles due to a stomach bug. The five freshmen and one senior that did play singles should be proud they beat one of the better teams in the country. However, I think right now we are playing at 50 percent of what we are capable of playing at by the end of the year.”
Florida State secured the doubles point with wins on all three courts in just under an hour. UF's two losses this season had come when the Gators lost the doubles point.
Johnny Hamui (Wesley Chapel) evened the match with his win on court five over Brad Mixson. With the win, Hamui improved to 3-1 on the year in dual match play with each of the victories coming in straight sets.
One minute after Florida State's Chris Cloer picked up a win on six to put the Seminoles back on to, the match was even again when Florida's 57th-ranked Alex Lacroix (Paris, France) took out FSU's 68th-ranked Sam Chang on court two, 6-3, 6-4.
Tyler Hochwalt (Scottdale, AZ) gave the Gators their first lead of the day with a 6-3, 7-5 showing over Maciek Sykut on court four. For the second straight outing, Jeff Dadamo (Tampa) secured the Gator victory as he held off Clint Bowles on court three, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Bowles, who won the 2007 National Clay Court Championships, entered the match as one of the highest ranked freshmen in the nation at 78th.
“It feels good to know I clinched,” said Dadamo. “I didn't know that while I was out there. I was too focused on my match to check what was happening on other courts. After the second set, I knew to keep fighting and things would happen. It will give us confidence and was a really exciting win for us to get. After the doubles we went to the locker room and got ready to get back out there. We all know that Coach Jackson will have us prepared and he did a great job in getting us ready for today.”
Greg Ouellette (Ormond Beach) added to the Gator point total with a hard-fought win of his own at the top of the order over Jean-Yves Aubone, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Ouellette, Dadamo and Hochwalt all pace the team with 5-1 singles marks in dual matches.
Florida returns to the courts on back-to-back days as the Gators take at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24 in Gainesville. The next day, UF goes against No. 21 Pepperdine in Gainesville at 3 p.m.
College Men's Tennis
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Gainesville, Fla.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Final Score: Florida 5, Florida State 2
Doubles
No. 1 (31) Jean-Yves Aubone-Clint Bowles (FSU) def. Greg Ouellette-Tyler Hochwalt (UF), 8-2
No. 2 Sam Chang-Maciek Sykut (FSU) def. Jeff Dadamo-Johnny Hamui (UF), 8-5
No. 3 Andrew Bailey-Brad Mixson (FSU) def. Nestor Briceno-Alex Lacroix (UF), 8-5
Singles
No. 1 (8) Greg Ouellette (UF) def. Jean Yves-Aubone (FSU), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
No. 2 (57) Alex Lacroix (UF) def. (68) Sam Chang (FSU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 Jeff Dadamo (UF) def. (78) Clint Bowles (FSU), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
No. 4 Tyler Hochwalt (UF) def. Maciek Sykut (FSU), 6-3, 7-5
No. 5 Johnny Hamui (UF) def. Brad Mixson (FSU), 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 Chris Cloer (FSU) def. Erik Corace (UF), 6-3, 7-6 (6)
Order of Finish: Doubles – 1, 2, 3 Singles – 5, 6, 2, 4, 3, 1
END OF REPORT
