Florida Gators
#6 Baylor
No. 11 Men's Tennis Falls at No. 6 Baylor, 5-2
Sunday, January 24, 2010 | Men's Tennis
The No. 11 University of Florida men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision against the No. 6 Baylor Bears on Sunday at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, moving its record to 1-1 on the season.
“Baylor was very sharp, very mature,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “We were shown a lot of things we have to learn. In my mind, nothing has changed about this team. We're just not ready yet to compete with the No. 6 team in the nation on the road, but that can change.”
Playing their first road match of the season, the Gators won on the fourth and fifth singles courts with senior Antoine Benneteau (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) and sophomore Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine), respectively.
Junior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) took his No. 1 singles match to three sets before succumbing to Baylor's Denes Lukacs, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Freshmen Bob Van Overbeek (Boca Raton) played second singles for the Gators, facing 11th-ranked Jordan Rux, falling 7-5, 6-2. Fellow newcomers freshman Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton) and sophomore Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) also came up short on courts three and six, with Slilam making his first dual match appearance for UF.
Baylor also secured the doubles point, taking two of three from the Gators. Florida's first doubles pair, the No. 10-rated tandem of Benneteau and Lacroix, posted a 9-7 victory on court one. Bangoura and Burkhardt dropped a tight 9-7 battle on the second court, while freshman Billy Federhofer (North Miami) and Van Overbeek were on the short end of an 8-1 decision at No. 3.
Florida next takes the court at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 30, hosting Furman in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Gators will then face either Georgia Tech or Penn State on Sunday, Jan. 31, with the consolation match at 9 a.m. and the championship at 1 p.m. The winner of the event will earn a trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 12-15.
“One of the reasons we schedule a match like Baylor on the road right now is so that we're tougher coming into the Kick-Off Weekend,” Jackson said. “We're looking forward to playing that event and trying to earn a trip to Charlottesville.”
Admission is free to the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, held at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
Results
Doubles
1 – (10) Benneteau/Lacroix (UF) def. Bucko/Rux (BU) – 9-7
2 – Horny/Lukacs (BU) def. Bangoura/Burkhardt (UF) – 9-7
3 – Bley/Ramirez (BU) def. Federhofer/Van Overbeek (UF) – 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1 – Denes Lukacs (BU) def. (7) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) – 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
2 – (11) Jordan Rux (BU) def. Bob Van Overbeek (UF) – 7-5, 6-2
3 – Attila Bucko (BU) def. Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) – 6-4, 6-4
4 – Antoine Benneteau (UF) def. Dominik Mueller (BU) – 6-4, 6-1
5 – Joey Burkhardt (UF) def. Sergio Ramirez (BU) – 6-2, 6-0
6 – Maros Horny (BU) def. Nassim Slilam (UF) – 6-4, 6-0
Order of Finish: 5, 6, 3, 4, 2, 1
-UF-
