Florida Men's Tennis Ranked No. 8 in First National Team Rankings
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 | Men's Tennis
The University of Florida men's tennis team will open the spring season ranked No. 8 in the country, according to the initial Men's National Team Rankings released by the ITA on Tuesday. The Gators finished last season ranked No. 9 after advancing to the Round of 16 in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
Florida begins its spring season with their last individual event of the 2011-12 campaign at the SEC Indoors January 13-15 in Lexington, Ky. The Gators first dual match will be at No. 5 Baylor on January 22. UF will host the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on January 28-29, competing against No. 56 New Mexico in the first round. No. 31 Miami (Fla.) and No. 41 Wake Forest will also take part in the event.
In addition to the No. 8 team ranking, UF has three singles players in the rankings and three doubles teams in the top 50. The Gators are one of just four schools in the country to have three doubles teams ranked in the top 60, joining No. 1 Ohio State, No. 18 Oklahoma and No. 2 Virginia.
After posting a 9-3 record in the fall, junior Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) is the highest-ranked Gator at No. 69. Sophomore Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) earned his first career ranking, coming in at No. 84, after compiling a 13-3 record in the fall.
Sophomore Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) also entered the rankings for the first time in his collegiate career, ranking No. 102. Butz finished with an 11-4 record in fall singles action.
On the doubles side, the duo of junior Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) and senior Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) jumped up to No. 4 in the rankings. They advanced to the semifinals of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships and had a 13-4 record in the fall, including a stretch of eight-straight wins, with three-straight wins over top-20 ranked opponents.
Butz and van Overbeek teamed up for 10 wins in the fall and are ranked No. 25 entering the spring season. Junior Frank Carleton (Naples, Fla.) and Newman had a 10-3 record and are ranked No. 41.
The complete rankings can be found online here: http://www.itatennis.com
NCAA Division I Tennis Polls
Administered by the ITA
January 3, 2012
Men's National Singles Rankings – Florida Players
#69 Bob van Overbeek
#84 Spencer Newman
#102 Andrew Butz
Men's National Doubles Rankings – Florida Pairs
#4 Billy Federhofer/Nassim Slilam
#25 Bob van Overbeek/Andrew Butz
#41 Frank Carleton/Spencer Newman
Men's National Team Rankings – Top 10
| Rank | School | '10-'11 Final Rank | Average |
| 1 | Southern California | 1 | 1.03 |
| 2 | Virginia | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 3 | 3.13 |
| 4 | Georgia | 5 | 4.17 |
| 5 | Baylor | 6 | 6.47 |
| 6 | Stanford | 7 | 6.5 |
| 7 | Kentucky | 8 | 6.93 |
| 8 | FLORIDA | 9 | 8.67 |
| 9 | UCLA | 11 | 10.37 |
| 10 | Duke | 12 | 11.03 |
| 11 | Texas A&M | 10 | 11.17 |
