The 17th-ranked Florida men’s tennis team posted a 4-2 victory against No. 19 Mississippi State in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Southeastern Conference Tournament on Friday at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. It marked the second consecutive year the Gators knocked the Bulldogs out of the conference tournament in the quarterfinal round. Florida will play the winner of tonight’s Tennessee Ole Miss match in the semifinals Saturday at 2 p.m.
“I feel like Mississippi State is extremely good, and I thought they were really ready to play,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “We were really ready to play. It was our 11th time in that situation [with a close match], and I felt like it served us well, that we were comfortable in the situation and push through against an extremely good team. I’m very excited for my guys about that.
“I’d also like to make sure I thank the people in the crowd that came because it really made a difference. Against Tennessee or Ole Miss tomorrow, I hope we have some more people come because we’re going to have a chance against those teams, and every little bit helps.”
The Gators posted a dominant doubles performance, clinching the point in just 41 minutes behind a pair of 8-2 wins. Sophomore Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) and freshman Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) picked up UF’s first victory on court three, topping James Chaudry and Zach White.
Florida’s 29th-ranked pair of senior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) and sophomore Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) then clinched the point on court one with a victory against 58th-ranked George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin. That marked Lacroix’s 99th career doubles victory, extending the UF record that he already holds.
The teams traded straight-sets singles wins on courts five and six that both clocked in at an hour and 26 minutes. The Bulldogs first got a win from No. 82 Louis Cant over sophomore Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) on court five before the Gators answered moments later as freshman Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) topped White at the sixth position.
Florida added to its lead with the 44th-ranked Bangoura’s 6-3, 6-4 court two win over No. 57 Coupland, putting UF up, 3-1.
“Today was a good day,” Bangoura said. “We came out relaxed, but with a lot of focus and energy. We knew those guys would be tough. The last match [against them] was a really hard match, so we knew we had our work cut out for us today and we got the job done, so it was good.”
MSU chipped away at the Florida lead, pulling within 3-2 when No. 91 Malte Stropp downed van Overbeek on court four, leaving a pair of three-setters in play.
After a seesaw battle throughout the first two sets, Slilam came out blazing in the third and blitzed Chaudry for a 6-0 set to clinch the match for the Gators.
I think I played good the whole match,” Slilam said. “In the second set, we played three games really close and he won them and was just too good. … The first game [in the third set] was really close, and I think it was really important. Then I don’t know what happened. ... I started to play amazing, and he started to miss.”
When the team match ended, Lacroix was on serve in the third, trailing Ilyushin 5-4 in the set.
Jackson, the all-time winningest coach at Mississippi State before coming to Florida in 2002, is now 11-0 against the Bulldogs in his 10 seasons leading the Orange and Blue.
