Florida Gators
Vanderbilt
No. 9 Men's Tennis Downs No. 37 Vanderbilt, 5-2
Sunday, March 8, 2009 | Men's Tennis
The No. 9 UF men's tennis team (11-3, 2-0) earned their second SEC victory of the season with a 5-2 win over No. 37 Vanderbilt (4-8, 0-2). The Gators handed Vanderbilt their sixth-consecutive loss this season and are now a perfect 10-0 at home.
“That was a good win in a difficult situation against solid Vanderbilt team,” said head coach Andy Jackson. “We are excited to be 2-0 in conference play, with two of our next three matches against top-10 teams.”
The 80th-ranked pair of sophomore Alex Lacroix (Paris, France) and freshman Carlos Cueto (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) needed only 32 minutes to defeat Vanderbilt's Alex DiValerio and Charlie Jones, 8-2. Florida's 18th-ranked pair of Antoine Benneteau (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) and Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine, Fla.) collected a victory over No. 30 Adam Baker and Alex Zotov, 8-5, to clinch the doubles point for Florida.
Sophomore Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) defeated Vandy's Charlie Jones, 6-0, 6-2, on court five in just over one hour to extend the Gators' lead 2-0. Within minutes, No. 34 Lacroix handed Nick Cromydas a loss on court one, 6-0, 6-1. Lacroix is now a perfect 4-0 when playing the No. 1 position. Burkhardt secured the victory for Florida after downing Vijay Paul on court three, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
With the match clinched, Benneteau took the final set of the day to give Florida a final 5-2 advantage. After dropping the first set in a grueling tie-breaker, 6-7 (7-3), the redshirt junior battled back to claim the second and third sets, 6-3 and 1-0 (10-8), respectively.
The Gators return to action when they travel to Athens to face the University of Georgia on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The squad continues their road trip, taking on Tennessee on Sunday at 1 p.m. Official results can be found at www.GatorZone.com.
College Men's Tennis
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Gainesville, Fla.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Final Score: Florida 5, Vanderbilt 2
Doubles
No. 1 (18) Benneteau/Burkhardt (UF) def. (30) Baker/Zotov (VU), 8-5
No. 2 (61) Dadamo/Hamui (UF) v. Cromydas/Salcedo (VU), DNF but UF led 8-7
No. 3 (80) Cueto/Lacroix (UF) def. DiValerio/Jones (VU), 8-2
Singles
No. 1 (34) Alex Lacroix (UF) def. Nick Cromydas (VU), 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 Antoine Benneteau (UF) def. Bryant Salcedo (VU), 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, 1-0 (10-8)
No. 3 Joey Burkhardt (UF) def. Vijay Paul (VU), 6-3, 1-6, 6-1
No. 4 Adam Baker (VU) def. Johnny Hamui (UF), 6-2, 7-5
No. 5 Jeff Dadamo (UF) def. Charlie Jones (VU), 6-0, 6-2
No. 6 Alex Zotov (VU) def. Eric Corace (UF), 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles – 3, 1, 2 Singles – 5, 1, 6, 3, 4, 2
-UF-
