The 13th-ranked University of Florida men’s tennis team fell in a closely-fought 4-3 decision against two-time defending NCAA champion and current No. 3 Southern California on Thursday at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. Florida drops to 11-4 this spring, while USC improves to 14-2.
The outcome of a back-and-forth battle came down to a tight court one match between sixth-ranked UF senior Alexandre Lacroix and USC’s top-ranked Steve Johnson, with Johnson fending off the upset bid by closing out Lacroix in a second-set tiebreaker, 6-2, 7-6(4).
“USC was too good today, and especially Steve was a huge factor,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “He and Alex played a high-quality second set. We can’t wait to get back on the court against Ole Miss on Saturday, and we’re looking forward to going out to Los Angeles to play USC next year. Of course, we’re very disappointed to lose this match, otherwise why would you play?”
Lacroix fought off four match points in his heavyweight showdown before Johnson finally claimed the win.
“It’s tough coming up a little short at the end,” the Gator senior said. “The tiebreaker was really close, and he hit a great passing shot at 6-4. They were better than us today. They’re back-to-back NCAA champions, so they know how to play tennis. We’re just going learn from it as a team because we were really close against the number three team in the country. All you can say is, ‘Good job, SC. See you next time.’”
Junior Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) and sophomore Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) got the Gators headed in the right direction during doubles, going up two breaks early in their doubles match on the way to an 8-4 court two win. Federhofer wrapped up the match with a looping baseline forehand over the heads of 51st-ranked Emilio Gomez and Daniel Nguyen. It marked the duo’s first win over a ranked opponent and was also the pair’s first match at the No. 2 position after three previous decisions on court three.
UF sealed the doubles point at the third position, as sophomore Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) and freshman Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) posted an 8-4 victory over Michael Grant and Johnson. The first seven games went on serve until the Gators broke Grant’s serve at 4-3. The Gators preserved their lead as van Overbeek and Butz each held serve before again breaking on Grant’s service game at 7-4 to wrap up the doubles point for Florida.
USC managed to prevent a doubles sweep as No. 43 Jaak Poldma and JT Sundling topped the Gators’ 46th-rated pair of Lacroix and sophomore Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) after the point was already settled.
The Gators struggled to keep up that momentum through singles and a slow start forced UF into an uphill battle with USC claiming four first sets.
“We’ve carried that energy from good doubles matches into singles before, but just because you’ve done it once doesn’t mean you’ll do it every time,” Jackson said. “We didn’t engage quickly enough, and we have to do better at that.”
The Trojans struck the first blow as No. 53 Ray Sarmiento topped van Overbeek on court four, but freshman Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) put the Gators back out in front, 2-1, with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Peter Lucassen at the No. 6 position.
The Trojans again pulled even, 2-2, as Emilio Gomez scored a 6-2, 6-2 win over Federhofer on court five. Moments after Lacroix saved the two initial match points serving at 4-5 in the second set, Poldma closed out a 6-2, 6-3 win over Bangoura on court two to give the Trojans a 3-2 edge.
Lacroix saved two more match points as he served at 5-6, forcing the second-set tiebreaker that Johnson used to close out the match.
Slilam provided the final point for the Gators on court three, scoring the highest-ranked win of his career against the 24th-rated Nguyen on court three. A seesaw battle in the first set resulted in Slilam taking a 9-7 tiebreaker before cruising to a 6-1 second set and earning his team-high 12th dual singles win of the season.
UF puts its undefeated 4-0 SEC mark on the line Saturday, March 19, against Ole Miss at 1 p.m. The Rebels come to Gainesville with an 8-4 record (2-2 SEC).
