No. 7 M-Tennis To Host No. 2 Ole Miss on Friday
Thursday, March 26, 2009 | Men's Tennis
The seventh-ranked UF men's tennis team returns to action after an idle week to a weekend of fierce Southeastern Conference competition.
The Gators will play host to No. 2 Ole Miss (14-2, 4-0) on Friday at 3 p.m. at Linder Stadium, before traveling to Starkville to take on No. 55 Mississippi State on Sunday 1 p.m.
Florida will face off at Linder Stadium for the first time in almost two weeks. Prior to their off-week, the Gators faced a challenging conference road trip, taking on two higher-ranked opponents in Georgia and Tennessee. The squad fell to Georgia in a narrow 4-3 margin before behind defeated by Tennessee, 6-1.
Currently, UF has three singles players and two doubles team recognized in the ITA poll. Recent SEC Player of the Week Alex Lacroix (Paris, France) is currently at No. 14, while former SEC Freshman of the Week Carlos Cueto (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) is No. 24. Sophomore Tyler Hochwalt (Scottsdale, Ariz.), who has yet to play in a dual match this spring, is ranked No. 87.
The pair of redshirt junior Antoine Benneteau (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) and freshman Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine, Fla.) are ranked 16th in the country, while Burkhardt and Cueto are on the poll at No. 73.
Several Rebels are featured in the latest ITA poll in both singles and doubles. Ole Miss boasts the No. 2 ranked doubles team in the nation in senior All-Americans Jonas Berg and Bram ten Berge. The pair are currently 20-7 on the year. In singles, Berg is ranked No. 31 with a 21-7 record, including 9-3 in dual matches. Devin Britton is ranked No. 34, while junior Kalle Norberg is ranked No. 41. Finally, Bram ten Berge is ranked No. 93 in singles.
Mississippi State is currently 5-8 with a 1-3 conference record. The Bulldogs are coming off four-straight losses, but senior Ryan Farlow is currently listed in the latest ITA poll at No. 108.
Before hosting UF on Sunday, State will travel to Columbia, S.C. to face South Carolina on Friday.
Admission to Friday's match is free. Live scoring can be found at www.GatorZone.com.
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