Florida Gators
New Mexico (ITA Kickoff)
No. 5 Florida Men's Tennis Blanks No. 55 New Mexico, 7-0
Saturday, January 28, 2012 | Men's Tennis
The fifth-ranked Florida men's tennis team posted a 7-0 victory over New Mexico Saturday at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex in the opening round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
“It's very important for our team to go to the National Indoors,” said head coach Andy Jackson. “We beat a quality team today in New Mexico and will have a chance tomorrow to play to go to the Indoors.”
The Gators will face either Miami or Wake Forest at 1 p.m. on Sunday with a trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 17-20 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.
UF swept the doubles competition for the second-straight match. Junior Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) and senior Nassim Slilam (Paris, France), the No. 4-ranked doubles pair in the nation, opened with an 8-3 win over the 16th-ranked duo of Jadon Phillips and Phil Anderson from New Mexico. Junior Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) and sophomore Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) clinched the doubles point for the Gators against Carl Ho and James Hignett after Butz held serve to win 8-3.
“We were a little tentative at the beginning of the doubles, which I think is a kind of normal because we were probably a little bit nervous to play at home and to play as a big favorite,” said Coach Jackson. “I think we've got some things we can improve on for tomorrow's match, but we finished well today.”
Frank Carleton (Naples, Fla.) and Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) completed the doubles sweep, breaking Ben Dunbar and Conor Berg in the final game for the 8-4 win.
Singles action started off fast, with UF taking the first set in five matches relatively quickly. Newman continued his hot singles play, breezing to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Berg at No. 4 singles. Playing just his second match at No. 1 singles, van Overbeek took down No. 81 Phillips in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 for a 3-0 Florida lead.
Sophomore Michael Alford (Tampa, Fla.), playing in his first dual singles match, clinched the victory for the Gators on court 6. After earning two breaks in the first set, Alford broke Mads Hegelund twice more in the second set for the 6-1, 6-2 win.
Both players at No. 5 singles held serve for the first 15 games and split the first two sets, but Butz claimed the win in a third-set pro tiebreak over Ho, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 10-7. Sophomore Florence Diep (Paris, France) finished the shutout with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win at No. 3 singles over Anderson.
| 2012 University of Florida Men's Tennis | ||||||
| Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex | ||||||
| Gainesville, Florida | ||||||
| Saturday, January 28, 2011 | ||||||
| Doubles | FLORIDA | vs | New Mexico | Winner |
| Score (match length) |
| Billy Federhofer (4) | Jadon Phillips (16) | |||||
| No. 1 - | Nassim Slilam (4) | Phil Anderson (16) | UF | 8-3 (:38) | ||
| Frank Carleton (41) | Ben Dunbar | |||||
| No. 2 - | Spencer Newman (41) | Conor Berg | UF | 8-4 (:58) | ||
| Bob van Overbeek (25) | Carl Ho | |||||
| No. 3 - | Andrew Butz (25) | James Hignett | UF* | 8-3 (:47) | ||
| Singles | FLORIDA | vs | New Mexico | Winner |
| Score (match length) |
| No. 1 - | Bob van Overbeek (69) | Jadon Phillips (81) | UF | 6-2, 6-3 (1:10) | ||
| No. 2 - | Nassim Slilam | Ben Dunbar | UF | 6-1, 6-4 (1:26) | ||
| No. 3 - | Florent Diep | Phil Anderson | UF | 6-2, 7-6 (5) (2:04) | ||
| No. 4 - | Spencer Newman (84) | Conor Berg | UF | 6-1, 6-0 (1:00) | ||
| No. 5 - | Andrew Butz | Carl Ho | UF | 7-6 (5), 4-6, 10-7 (1:58) | ||
| No. 6 - | Michael Alford | Mads Hegelund | UF* | 6-1, 6-2 (1:22) | ||
| FINAL SCORE: | Florida - 7 | New Mexico - 0 | * Clinched victory | |||
| Records: | Florida 2-0 | New Mexico 2-1 | ||||
| Order of Finish: | Doubles: 1,3,2 | Singles: 4, 1, 6, 2, 5, 3 | ||||
| Attendance: | 166 | |||||
