The Gators leave Charlottesville, Va. with a victory, but it’s not the way they wanted it to play out.
After avenging the loss to No. 6 Baylor, then falling in a close match to No. 3 Ohio State, the men’s tennis team left with an impressive 4-0 victory in Sunday’s consolation round over No. 7 Georgia.
The shutout victory started with UF winning the doubles point.
The No. 10 doubles team of junior Alexandre Lacroix and senior Antoine Benneteau won their set at court No. 1 8-3, but sophomore Joey Burkhardt and freshman Sekou Bangoura Jr. stumbled at court No. 2 in an 8-3 decision.
The match at court No. 3 had senior Daniel Cash and freshman Bob Van Overbeek securing the point for Florida in a 9-8 win decided by a tiebreaker set.
In singles, No. 7 Lacroix bounced back from his loss Saturday to No. 103 Chase Buchanan of Ohio State. He defeated Nate Schnugg in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 to put UF in the lead 2-0.
Freshmen Bangoura and Nassim Slilam secured the Gators’ victory by winning in straight sets from courts No. 5 and No. 6.
With the victory clinched, play was abandoned from all active matches.
Slilam had a particularly impressive tournament winning all three of his singles matches.
Florida will face Georgia again April 11th in Gainesville.
The No. 4 Gators women’s tennis team (7-2) went to Madison, Wis. 6-0.
The 4-1 loss to No. 12 UCLA on Sunday was Florida’s second in as many days.
UCLA started the match winning the doubles point with victories on courts No. 1 and No. 3.
The loss on the No. 1 court was the first of the season for No. 26 Marrit Boonstra and Allie Will.
Will bounced back in singles winning in three sets 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Play was abandoned after the UCLA victory was clinched on court No. 6 when sophomore Claire Bartlett lost to Maya Johansson 6-2, 6-4.
The Gators get a week to regroup before they host No. 20 Florida State on Feb. 23rd.
