No. 7 Men's Tennis Readies for No. 19 Florida State
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | Men's Tennis
The seventh-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team (12-2, 4-0 SEC) will face intra-state rival Florida State on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
The match is to make up for the teams' originally-scheduled showdown, which was rained out on Feb. 24.
The Gators head into the midweek clash with a seven-match winning streak. They also will look to build on their three consecutive wins in the series with the Seminoles, which Florida leads all-time, 51-20.
In addition, the Gators will be shooting for their 100th home win under head coach Andy Jackson, who is in his ninth season at the helm.
“Their talent level is really high,” Jackson said. “Obviously, it's a big rivalry match. It's going to be very intense, very much like an SEC match. In every sport, Florida and Florida State are rivals. It's always really intense regardless of the talent level or the rankings, but right now both schools have high talent levels and good rankings. You add those two things in, and it's going to be really good.”
Florida is led by the nation's sixth-ranked singles player in Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France), who sports a 26-6 record during the 2009-10 season and has won seven straight matches, including four against top-50 opponents.
The Gators also benefit from a deep team this spring that has seen a 25-2 combined record from the No. 5 and 6 singles positions, bolstered by an active team-high 11-match winning by Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) primarily at the sixth spot.
The Florida State match is UF's final non-conference meeting of the regular season, with the Gators continuing their SEC slate on Sunday at home at 1 p.m. against Mississippi State.
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