Florida Gators
#14 Ole Miss
No. 6 Men's Tennis Edges No. 14 Ole Miss to Stay Perfect in SEC
Monday, March 29, 2010 | Men's Tennis
The sixth-ranked Florida men's tennis team defeated No. 14 Ole Miss, 4-3, on Sunday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center in Oxford, Miss., extending the Gators' win streak to eight in a row.
The win also keeps Florida (13-2, 5-0 SEC) perfect in league play and marks the second straight time the Gators have defeated the Rebels (13-3, 4-2 SEC) in Oxford, with the last meeting on Ole Miss' courts coming in 2008.
“It was a hard-fought, extremely close match,” UF head coach Andy Jackson said. “Anytime you can go on the road and beat a top-15 team, especially one with the tradition of Ole Miss, it's a good day.”
The win provided a strong start to a challenging stretch of the Florida schedule in which the Gators face five top-25 teams in a row, four of which stand in the nation's top 15.
The doubles point was hotly contested on all three courts, with the Gators striking first from the third position as Daniel Cash (Oslo, Norway) and Bob Van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) downed Adrian Forberg Skogeng and Harry Fowler, 8-6.
The other two doubles matches both went to a tiebreaker with No. 38 Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) and Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine, Fla.) falling on the second court before 10th-ranked Antoine Benneteau (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) and Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) pulled out the victory over No. 51 Tucker Vorster and Jonas Lutjen to give UF the early 1-0 lead.
The Gators notched the first win in singles, with Van Overbeek posting a straight-sets victory over Chris Thiemann at the No. 4 position. Ole Miss answered with a victory of its own on the fifth court, with Harry Fowler snapping Bangoura's eight-match winning streak to bring the count to 2-1 in UF's favor.
The sixth-ranked Lacroix brought the Gators to the cusp of victory, posting a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 60 Vorster at first singles. Yet Ole Miss once again was ready with the counterpunch, with Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) seeing his team-high 11-match winning streak snapped on the No. 6 court and Burkhardt coming up short against No. 59 Marcel Thiemann on the second court.
With the teams knotted at 3-3, Benneteau landed the decisive blow from the No. 3 position, handing Lutjen at 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 defeat that kept the Gators perfect in league play this season.
“We were able to go on the road and lost at the fifth and sixth positions, which have been strong points for us, and still came away with the win, so we feel good about that,” Jackson said. “Alex, Antoine and Bob all three won twice so that's great.”
The Gators will be in action again this coming weekend, going on a road swing that includes a Friday meeting at No. 23 Vanderbilt and a Sunday showdown at No. 9 Kentucky.
Florida vs. Ole Miss
Doubles
1 – (10) Benneteau/Lacroix (UF) def. (51) Vorster/Lutjen (OM) - 9-8 (4)*
2 – Thiemann/Thiemann (OM) def. (38) Bangoura/Burkhardt (UF) - 9-8 (1)
3 – Cash/Van Overbeek (UF) def. Forberg Skogeng/Fowler (OM) - 8-6
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1*
Singles
1 – (6) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. (60) Tucker Vorster (OM) - 6-4, 6-4
2 – (59) Marcel Thiemann (OM) def. Joey Burkhardt (UF) - 7-5, 6-4
3 – Antoine Benneteau (UF) def. Jonas Lutjen (OM) - 6-1, 3-6, 6-3*
4 – Bob Van Overbeek (UF) def. Chris Thiemann (OM) - 6-2, 6-3
5 – Harry Fowler (OM) def. Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) - 6-2, 6-2
6 – Adrian Forberg Skogeng (OM) def. Nassim Slilam (UF) - 7-6 (4), 6-1
Order of Finish: 4, 5, 1, 6, 2, 3*
*Clinched doubles point/match victory
-UF-
