The 15th-ranked Florida men’s tennis team scored a 7-0 win over Vanderbilt on Senior Day at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex on Sunday. The Gators used a trio of second-set tiebreaker wins to clinch the match at 4-0 before the remaining three singles courts provided the final tally in UF’s last regular season home match.
“It was very close, much like our matches against Kentucky and Mississippi State, but we were able to win all the close courts,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “We earned a very hard-fought win today against a tough team.”
Florida improves to 13-6 overall and 6-2 in the Southeastern Conference, while Vanderbilt falls to 11-8 and 2-6 in league action.
The Gators picked up the doubles point for the 14th time this season to get Sunday’s action started. Though Vanderbilt won on court two, the Gators had a one-break lead on courts one and three. Florida sophomore Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) served out he and junior Nassim Slilam’s (Paris, France) 8-6 win against Blake Bazarnik and Alex Zotov at the No. 3 position.
On the first court, Vandy broke UF’s serve at 7-5, but senior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) and sophomore Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) broke back for an 8-6 win against Adam Baker and Charlie Jones.
That court one victory marked the 200th overall career win for Lacroix, who became just the second player in program history to reach that milestone, joining four-year letterman Justin O’Neal (1997-2000), who reached 208 career victories.
Florida took four singles first sets, and all of those courts played to a second-set breaker with UF pulling through on three of them to clinch the team win.
Slilam scored the first singles point for the Gators with a 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Jones on court three, while Federhofer followed up minutes later with a 6-1, 7-6(4) victory at court five over Zotov.
Bangoura then broke through on court two, rallying from a 4-0 second-set deficit against Baker to force a breaker of his own, which he used to seal a 6-2, 7-6(7) victory and clinch the match for the Gators with a 4-0 edge. The team win reversed a streak of three consecutive 4-3 home losses for the Gators.
Lacroix bounced back from dropping his first set, winning the closely-played second by breaking the 27th-ranked Ryan Lipman at 5-6 to claim the set and force a super-breaker for the third set, which the Gator senior won, 10-7.
Freshman Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) also rebounded from losing his first set to force a super-breaker, and he carried that momentum all the way to a 10-7 win in the extra session to extend UF’s lead to 6-0.
Sophomore Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) played a full three-setter after taking the first set and dropping a second-set tiebreaker. With Bryant Salcedo serving at 4-5 in the third, van Overbeek broke serve to close out the match and put the finishing touch on the Gator sweep.
After the match, Lacroix reflected both on Senior Day and the importance of the win heading into a tough road weekend at Georgia and Tennessee.
“The win was really important for our team, and it feels good for us to get some confidence headed into this road trip,” Lacroix said. “We still have the SEC Tournament, so this wasn’t my last home match, but there was some emotion today for me. I tried to keep it in so it didn’t affect my play and just let it out at the end of the match.”
Jackson said the Gators’ track record of playing close matches this season could be a benefit as UF goes into two top-10 teams’ home courts next weekend.
“With the matches we’ve played, we know we can play with anybody and can beat anybody,” Jackson said. “It’s kind of like Butler in basketball, where they’ve played so many of those types of games that you know what to expect when it gets close like that. So if we can get in some close matches at Georgia and Tennessee, that’s good for us.”
The Gators play their final three regular season matches on the road before returning to Gainesville to host the SEC Tournament April 21-24. Admission to the conference tournament will be free.
#15 Florida vs. Vanderbilt
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Gainesville, Fla.
April 3, 2011
Doubles
1 – *(53) Bangoura/Lacroix (UF) def. Baker/Jones (VU) – 8-6 (:58)
2 – Lipman/Salcedo (VU) def. Butz/van Overbeek (UF) – 8-4 (:41)
3 – (80) Federhofer/Slilam (UF) def. Bazarnik/Zotov (VU) – 8-6 (:52)
Order of Finish: 2-3-1
Singles
1 – (10) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. (27) Ryan Lipman (VU) – 4-6, 7-5, (10-7) (2:02)
2 – *(43) Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) def. Adam Baker (VU) – 6-2, 7-6(7) (1:48)
3 – (84) Nassim Slilam (UF) def. Charlie Jones (VU) – 6-4, 7-6(4) (1:36)
4 – Bob van Overbeek (UF) def. Bryant Salcedo (VU) – 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-4 (2:22)
5 – Billy Federhofer (UF) def. Alex Zotov (VU) – 6-1, 7-6(4) (1:39)
6 – Spencer Newman (UF) def. Blake Bazarnik (VU) – 6-7(7), 6-4, (10-7) (2:17)
Order of Finish: 3-5-2-1-6-4
*Clinching point
