Men's Tennis Hosts USF And Miami This Weekend
Thursday, February 19, 2009 | Men's Tennis
The No. 11 men's tennis team plays host to two in-state foes this weekend at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators take on the No. 37 University of South Florida Bulls on Friday at 3 p.m. and will face the No. 24 University of Miami Hurricanes on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Gators have not had a home match in over two weeks after the squad traveled to Illinois last week. UF played four-straight indoor matches in that stretch, first falling to Illinois, 4-3, on Tuesday. The squad traveled from Urbana to Chicago to participate in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships over the weekend. After being handed a narrow defeat to then-No. 11 Stanford, the Gators bounced back to defeat then-No. 18 Michigan, 4-1. The following day, the team was defeated by the same margin to SEC opponent, No. 9 Ole Miss.
The team returns to their home court where they are currently a perfect 5-0. Florida and South Florida have quite a storied history, with the two teams battling each other 45 times. The Gators maintain a 42-3 series record and are 22-1 against the Bulls in Gainesville and a perfect 7-0 under head coach Andy Jackson. USF currently owns a 4-2 record and are 2-2 on the road this spring.
Sunday marks the 68th meeting between Florida and Miami's men's tennis teams. Although the Hurricanes defeated the Gators in many of the early meetings between the two schools, the Gators have won six of their last seven matchups. The most recent win came last season at the NCAA Regional where Florida downed the Hurricanes 4-1 to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Florida is 6-0 against Miami under Jackson, with four of those wins coming at home. The Hurricanes return all but one player from last season's 17-8 squad that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and finished the season ranked 19th in the nation.
Admission to both events is free and the first 200 fans on Sunday receive a free t-shirt courtesy of GRU. Please check www.GatorZone.com for live scoring and updated results.
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