Florida Gators
#20 Florida State (Rainout)
Men's Tennis Showdown Suspended Indefinitely
Thursday, March 18, 2010 | Men's Tennis
The seventh-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team took on No. 20 Florida State on Wednesday evening at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex, but multiple rain delays forced the match to be suspended indefinitely with the Gators leading, 2-0.
The match, which was originally scheduled for Feb. 24 but postponed until Wednesday due to weather, was once again held up by nature. An initial rain delay halted the match for over four hours. Play then resumed, only to be suspended indefinitely after another one hour delay.
The possibility of finishing out the match at a date to be determined will be discussed by the teams' coaching staffs. If the two programs can find space on their schedules, the match would resume as it stands, with Florida leading 2-0.
Florida got rolling in doubles play when senior Daniel Cash (Oslo, Norway) and freshman Bob Van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) defeated Andres Bucaro and Anderson Reed, 8-2, in 32 minutes.
With a solid 6-1 lead on Court 1, the Gators seemed to be cruising towards the doubles point. However, tension mounted when FSU swung the momentum in their favor after winning four of the next five games to surge back. The nation's 10th-ranked pair, Antoine Benneteau (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) and Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) regrouped and clinched the doubles point for Florida over their 70th-ranked foes, Vahid Mirzadeh and Connor Smith, 8-5.
Almost simultaneously on Court 2, No. 38 Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) and Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine, Fla.) defeated the No. 60 Seminole pairing, 8-5, to make it a clean sweep in doubles play for Florida.
Only Bangoura was able to claim a singles victory before play was stopped. Coming out of the first delay, he was at deuce with Smith. Tied 5-5, they battled until Bangoura won the critical game and went on to claim the set. The Bradenton native carried the momentum through to the next set, finishing out Smith in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0.
No. 7 Florida (12-2, 4-0) resumes SEC play at home on Sunday, March 21, at 1 p.m., against Mississippi State (8-6, 1-3).
Florida vs. Florida State
Doubles
No. 1 – (10) Benneteau/Lacroix (UF) def. (70) Mirzadeh/Smith (FSU) – 8-5*
No. 2 – (38) Bangoura/Burkhardt (UF) def. (60) Aubone/Bowles (FSU) – 8-5
No. 3 – Cash/Van Overbeek (UF) def. Bucaro/Reed (FSU) – 8-2
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2
Singles
No. 1 – (6) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) vs. (22) Jean-Yves Aubone – 6-2, 1-6, 3-4 (15-0) DNF
No. 2 – Joey Burkhardt (UF) vs. (48) Vadid Mirzadeh (FSU) – 4-6, 5-4 (15-0) DNF
No. 3 – Antoine Benneteau (UF) vs. (71) Clint Bowles (FSU) – 6-1, 5-5 (30-30) DNF
No. 4 – Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) def. Connor Smith (FSU) – 7-5, 6-0
No. 5 – Bob Van Overbeek (UF) vs. Anderson Reed (FSU) – 6-1, 6-6 (30-30) DNF
No. 6 – Nassim Slilam (UF) vs. Andres Bucaro (FSU) – 6-2, 5-6 (40-40) DNF
Order of Finish: 4
*Clinched doubles point/match victory
-UF-
