The 16th-ranked Florida men’s tennis team suffered a 7-0 defeat against No. 4 Tennessee on Sunday at Barksdale Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. The Gators fall to 13-8 at 6-4 in the Southeastern Conference, while the Volunteers improve to 19-3 and 9-1 in league play.
“Doubles was close, and we had a chance to win that,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “When we didn’t, we got a little discouraged, and they got on top of us and took control of the match. We’ll try to recover against South Carolina next Saturday and see if we can get good results at the SEC Tournament.”
The Gators’ 80th-ranked doubles pair of sophomore Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) and junior Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) provided UF’s bright spot of the day, picking up an 8-3 win over Matteo Fago and Edward Jones for the duo’s third straight win to improve to 8-2 as a tandem.
The 7-0 defeat was UF’s first by that score since it occurred at Illinois on Feb. 12, 2005. In the intervening time, the Gators recorded 25 wins by a 7-0 margin.
Florida returns to action on Saturday at 1 p.m., traveling to South Carolina to close out the regular season slate. The Gators then prepare to host the SEC Tournament at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex April 21-24.
#16 Florida vs. #4 Tennessee
Barksdale Stadium
Knoxville, Tenn.
April 10, 2011
Doubles
1 – *#1 Conkic/Smith (UT) def. #53 Bangoura/Lacroix (UF) 9-7
2 – #61 Sandgren/Williams (UT) def. Butz/van Overbeek (UF) 8-4
3 – #80 Federhofer/Slilam (UF) def. Fago/Jones (UT) 8-3
Order of Finish: 2-3-1
Singles
1 – #4 Rhyne Williams (UT) def. #10 Alexandre Lacroix (UF) 6-2, 6-2
2 – #12 John-Patrick Smith (UT) def. #43 Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) 6-0, 6-3
3 – #48 Tennys Sandgren (UT) def. #84 Nassim Slilam (UF) 7-5, 6-3
4 – #56 Matteo Fago (UT) def. Bob van Overbeek (UF) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
5 – #121 Boris Conkic (UT) def. Billy Federhofer (UF) 6-4, 6-2
6 – *Edward Jones (UT) def. Andrew Butz (UF) 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1-2-6-5-3-4
*Clinching point
