Florida Gators
Mississippi State (Rainout)
Rain Halts No. 7 Men's Tennis Match Against Mississippi State
Sunday, March 21, 2010 | Men's Tennis
The seventh-ranked Florida men's tennis team's Sunday afternoon meeting with Mississippi State at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex was canceled due to rainy conditions. The match, originally scheduled for 1 p.m., started shortly after 4 p.m., and the teams played for just over an hour before the rain forced the courts to be cleared.
It marked the second time in five days the Gators (12-2, 4-0 SEC) were forced to stop play in a match they led, following Wednesday evening's suspension of the Florida State match. While UF is still planning to finish the showdown with the Seminoles at a time to be announced, the match against Mississippi State (8-6, 1-3 SEC) will not be completed or rescheduled.
“Obviously it's been a tough week for us,” said UF head coach Andy Jackson. “We'll just have to focus on getting better in practice this week and then get ourselves ready to go compete on the road.”
The teams began competition with singles play in an attempt get a result in the least amount of time possible. At the time that play was stopped, Florida had won the first set on four courts and Antoine Benneteau (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) held a 3-1 lead in his first-set tiebreaker.
The Gators had shown considerable toughness to get that match to that point. Benneteau trailed 5-1 in the set before winning the next four games to draw even at 5-5. After Artem Ilyushin broke Benneteau's serve to go up 6-5, Benneteau broke right back to force the tiebreaker.
In addition, Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) rallied from a 5-1 deficit in his first-set tiebreaker to take six straight points and claim the set moments before the rain began.
Sixth-ranked Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) also appeared well on his way to his eighth straight victory and seventh against a ranked foe, leading No. 52 Louis Cant, 6-2, 3-0. Meanwhile, Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine, Fla.) and Bob Van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) both found themselves up a set at No. 2 and No. 4 singles, respectively.
The lone Mississippi State first-set win came at the sixth spot, but Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) was a game away from evening the count and forcing a third set. Slilam holds a UF's longest active winning streak, with 11 consecutive wins.
Florida next heads to Oxford, Miss., where they will take on No. 14 Ole Miss next Sunday, March 28, at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Florida vs. Mississippi State
Singles
1 – (6) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) vs. (52) Louis Cant (MSU) – 6-2, 3-0
2 – Joey Burkhardt (UF) vs. (101) George Coupland (MSU) – 6-3, 4-2
3 – Antoine Benneteau (UF) vs. Artem Ilyushin (MSU) – 6-6 (3-1)
4 – Bob Van Overbeek (UF) vs. Antonio Lastre – 6-3, 2-2
5 – Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) vs. Daniel Sanchez 7-6 (5)
6 – Nassim Slilam (UF) vs. Chris Doerr (MSU) – 2-6, 5-1
-UF-
