The Gators wrapped up the weekend by winning four singles matches and three doubles matches on the final day of the 2010 Gator Invitational on Sunday.
After defeating UCF's Eugene Dolgovykh and Matthew Zachary on Saturday, the No. 20-rated pair of Alexandre Lacroix and Nassim Slilam picked up where they left off with an 8-2 win against South Florida’s Federico Sabogal and Yannick Yoshizawa.
Freshmen Andrew Butz and Michael Alford defeated South Florida’s Wael Kilani and Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard (8-4).
Bob van Overbeek and Billy Federhofer completed the sweep with an 8-3 win against USF’s Romain Deridder and Jorge Suarez.
In singles action, Lacroix proved why he is one of the top-ranked players in the nation with a convincing win (6-1, 6-0) over No. 53 Kilani.
Van Overbeek defeated Gerard (6-3, 6-2) while Alford won against Suarez (6-4, 6-1).
Butz showed composure after dropping his first set against Sabogal, as the freshman battled back and earned a win (1-6, 7-6, 6-2).
Slilam and Deridder engaged in a tough battle, with Slilam suffering his only loss of the weekend (7-5, 7-6(3)).
The team finished the tournament with an impressive overall record of 24-2, including a perfect 9-0 in doubles competition.
Lacroix, the No. 9 singles player, was the tournament’s singles champion after finishing 3-0. He and Slilam also won the doubles title after losing only seven games in their three matches.
“Alex is a singles and doubles All-American, and he performed like one all weekend,” coach Andy Jackson said.
Despite the team’s success, there is still room for improvement.
“We found out a whole lot of things we have to improve in order to reach our goals,” Jackson said. “We have to build some confidence and stamina.”
The two freshmen made a good first impression by going 5-1 in singles competition and winning all three of their doubles matches.
“We were expecting a lot out of them,” Jackson said. “They performed higher than I thought they would at the beginning.”
