No. 7 Men's Tennis Travels To No. 16 Illinois For Saturday Clash
Friday, February 11, 2011 | Men's Tennis
The seventh-ranked Florida men's tennis team travels to Urbana, Ill., to take on 16th-ranked Illinois at the Atkins Tennis Center at 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.
The Gators (6-0) have won their first six matches of the season for the second time (2006) under head coach Andy Jackson, who enters Saturday's match with 399 career victories as a men's tennis head coach (399-170). The Illini (3-2) lead the all-time series, 9-6, but Florida has won two of the past three including last year's 5-2 victory in Gainesville.
The match will be the final tune-up for each team before the ITA Team Indoor Championships kick off in Seattle on Feb. 18.
Florida is led by fourth-ranked senior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France), who is climbing the all-time UF charts with 185 overall career wins (fourth), including 90 in doubles (tied for second) and 95 in singles (seventh).
In Illinois, Florida will be facing its third top-30 opponent of the season, having already defeated then-No. 7 Baylor (now ninth) on Jan. 23 and then-No. 27 Florida State (now 26th) on the road Feb. 6. While Illinois has suffered two losses already this season, they both came against top-five teams. The Illini also face No. 12 Kentucky Friday evening before their meeting with Florida.
