The
ninth-ranked Florida men’s tennis team suffered another close Southeaster
Conference defeat, losing 4-2 at No. 27 LSU on Sunday afternoon in Baton Rouge.
The Gators fell to 13-8 overall and 6-4 in league play heading into next weekend’s
regular-season finale against South Carolina.
Florida
got into an early 3-0 hole in the match after losing the doubles point and
dropping the top two singles matches. LSU (13-9, 4-6 SEC) secured the doubles
point with victories on courts one and three. UF’s duo of Spencer Newman
and Bob van Overbeek beat the Tigers’ Roger Anderson and Olvier Borsos,
8-6, on court two.
Borsos
defeated van Overbeek, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 1 singles, and then LSU’s Neal Skupski
beat Florida’s Tripper Carleton on court two, 6-3, 7-5, to build a 3-0 lead
for the Tigers.
The
Gators mounted a small comeback, picking up wins at No. 3 and No. 5 singles to cut
the deficit to 3-2 in the match. Newman took down Chris Simpson, 6-3, 7-5, on
court three for UF’s first point, and then Florent Diep pulled out a
three-set win over Stefan Szacinski, 7-6 (0), 2-6, 6-0, on court five.
The
deciding point came at No. 4 singles, as LSU’s Tom Knights fought back after
losing the first set to defeat Florida’s Billy Federhofer, 5-7, 6-4,
6-1.
The
match on court six was halted, but the Tigers’ David Roberts led UF’s Michael
Alford in the third set, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 2-0.
Florida
closes the regular season next Saturday, hosting South Carolina at 1 p.m. at
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators will honor their lone senior,
Nassim Slilam, before the match.
