Florida Places Four on M-Tennis All-Conference Teams
Thursday, April 29, 2010 | Men's Tennis
Four members of the sixth-ranked Florida men's tennis team have been named to all-conference teams, the Southeastern Conference announced on Thursday.
Junior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) was named first-team All-SEC, while senior Antoine Benneteau (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) earned second-team All-SEC honors. In addition, freshmen Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) and Bob Van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) have been named to the SEC All-Freshman team.
“It's a big honor to have four players honored like this,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “They are all very deserving, especially Alexandre and Antoine making the team in consecutive years.”
For Lacroix, it is his third career All-SEC honor and the second consecutive year he has made the first-team list. Benneteau is also making his second appearance on the All-SEC team, earning second-team distinction in 2009 as well.
Lacroix has appeared at No. 1 singles and doubles in every dual match this season for Florida. He posted a 9-1 singles record in SEC regular season play and has reached as high at fourth in the national rankings. Lacroix and Benneteau have been outstanding in doubles action as well, maintaining a top-15 ranking all spring.
Bangoura and Van Overbeek have made their presence immediately felt in the UF lineup. The two combined to win five SEC Freshman of the Week honors this spring, Bangoura with one and Van Overbeek with a league-best four.
“Bob and Sekou are two of the biggest reasons we've been successful this year,” Jackson said. “Not the only reasons, but they've been a very big part of that. This has been one of the best years for freshman in the league in recent memory, so it's a great accomplishment for those guys to be included in that group.”
The two posted identical 9-1 singles records in SEC regular season play, with Bangoura holding a 22-4 overall record this spring and Van Overbeek checking in at 16-5.
Bangoura, along with sophomore Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine, Fla.), has spent the majority of the spring in the doubles top 50. Van Overbeek is also riding a six-match doubles winning streak with senior Daniel Cash (Oslo, Norway). Bangoura and Van Overbeek also took home All-Tournament Team honors at the 2010 SEC Tournament, held in Lexington, Ky., April 22-25, in which UF was the runner-up.
The 19-4 Gators now await their NCAA draw, which will be announced on Tuesday, May 4. Florida has hosted NCAA Regionals in each of the past two seasons, and UF has advanced to the NCAA Finals site in seven of Jackson's eight years leading the program.
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