Florida Gators
Florida State
No. 5 Men's Tennis Takes Down Florida State, 6-1
Saturday, February 11, 2012 | Men's Tennis
The fifth-ranked Florida men's tennis team defeated in-state rival Florida State on Saturday, 6-1, at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. Junior Tripper Carleton (Naples, Fla.) clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles over FSU's Blake Davis. UF will host No. 18 Illinois on Sunday at noon.
Florida improved to 4-1 on the season while Florida State fell to 8-2 overall. The Gators are 53-20 all-time against FSU and have won five matches in a row against the Seminoles.
"It was a very competitive match today," said head coach Andy Jackson. "We're definitely very excited to get the win. We're looking forward to another big challenge tomorrow against Illinois."
The Gators remain undefeated on the season when taking the doubles point, sweeping all three doubles matches. Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) and Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) earned a break at 2-1 against Andres Bucaro and Benjamin Lock and seemed in control the entire match, winning 8-5 in just 43 minutes.
In the top position, Florida's Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) and Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) broke serve at 4-4 to earn the advantage against Davis and Jordan Kelly-Houston and broke serve again to win the match, 8-5, and clinch the doubles point.
At No. 3 doubles, Carleton and Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) went back-and-forth with Dominic Cotrone and Anderson Reed, but pulled out a tiebreaker to win 8-7 (2). The UF duo is undefeated in dual match play this spring, posting a 5-0 record through five matches.
In singles, Michael Alford (Tampa, Fla.) quietly breezed past Lock at the sixth position, 6-4, 6-3, to give UF a 2-0 lead in the team score. In a tight match at No. 1 singles, van Overbeek pulled out a second-set tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-6 (6), for the win against Kelly-Houston.
Minutes later, Carleton guaranteed the Gator victory with his win over Davis on court three. Carleton has a 4-0 record in singles' dual-match play this season.
Newman used two breaks in a close second set to win 6-3, 7-6 (3) over Jason Zafiros at No. 5 singles. Slilam, who opened his match at No. 2 singles winning seven-straight games, fought back after dropping the second set to beat Cristian Gonzalez Mendez, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4.
The Gators' Florent Diep (Paris, France) lost to Bucaro in three sets on court four, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Florida returns to action on Sunday at noon, hosting 18th-ranked Illinois.
| 2012 University of Florida Men's Tennis | ||||||
| Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex | ||||||
| Gainesville, Florida | ||||||
| Saturday, February 11, 2012 | ||||||
| Doubles | FLORIDA | vs | Florida State | Winner |
| Score (match length) |
| Billy Federhofer (4) | Blake Davis | |||||
| No. 1 - | Nassim Slilam (4) | Jordan Kelly-Houston | UF* | 8-5 (:58) | ||
| Tripper Carleton (41) | Dominic Cotrone | |||||
| No. 2 - | Spencer Newman (41) | Anderson Reed | UF | 8-7 (2) (1:08) | ||
| Andrew Butz (25) | Andres Bucaro | |||||
| No. 3 - | Bob van Overbeek (25) | Benjamin Lock | UF | 8-5 (:43) | ||
| Singles | FLORIDA | vs | Florida State | Winner |
| Score (match length) |
| No. 1 - | Bob van Overbeek (69) | Jordan Kelly-Houston | UF | 6-3, 7-6 (6) (1:34) | ||
| No. 2 - | Nassim Slilam | Cristian Gonzalez Mendez | UF | 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 (2:10) | ||
| No. 3 - | Tripper Carleton | Blake Davis | UF* | 6-3, 6-3 (1:37) | ||
| No. 4 - | Florent Diep | Andres Bucaro | FSU | 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 (2:19) | ||
| No. 5 - | Spencer Newman (84) | Jason Zafiros | UF | 6-3, 7-6 (3) (1:52) | ||
| No. 6 - | Michael Alford | Benjamin Lock | UF | 6-4, 6-3 (1:25) | ||
| FINAL SCORE: | Florida - 6 | Florida State - 1 | * Clinched victory | |||
| Records: | Florida (4-1) | Florida State (8-2) | ||||
| Order of Finish: | Doubles: 3, 1, 2 | Singles: 6, 1, 3, 5, 2, 4 | ||||
| Attendance: | 206 | |||||
