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After No. 29 Ole Miss raced out to a 3-0 lead and looked to cruise
to victory, the No. 13 Florida men’s tennis team clawed back and
tied the match before eventually falling 4-3.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">In
a match that lasted four hours and 36 minutes, every singles
matchup went into three sets and two topped the three-hour
mark.
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“Ole Miss played hard, played well and deserved to win today,”
coach Andy Jackson said. "We fought unbelievably hard."
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The Gators (11-5, 4-1 Southeastern Conference), who dropped their
first match in conference play, gave up the doubles point early in
the day, and for the came out slow in singles for the second
straight match.
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The Rebels (9-4, 3-2 SEC) were able to extend their lead after No.
55 Marcel Thiemann upset No. 6 Alexandre Lacroix on Court 1.
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Ole Miss then struck again about 15 minutes later when No. 102
Tucker Vorster topped UF junior Nassim Slilam on Court 3.
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Loyal Florida fans finally got something to cheer about when UF
notched its first point in almost three and a half hours after
freshman Andrew Butz scored a three-set win over Ole Miss' Adrian
Forberg-Skogeng.
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Florida's Sekou Bangoura Jr., Billy Federhofer and freshman Spencer
Newman were each behind in their matches, but both Bangoura and
Federhofer came back and won after their opponents tired.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">"I
was thinking we would win as long as we stayed aggressive and
didn't just hope that they would miss because they got tired,"
Jackson said.
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The marathon lengths of the matches finally started getting to Ole
Miss, as two players were treated for injuries and cramps.
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Federhofer won his match on Court 4 when Jonas Lutjen retired due
to be leg cramps, and Bangoura took control of his match with a 5-2
lead in the third set before winning 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, capping off his
own comeback.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">“I
just kept telling myself to keep going,” Bangoura said. “I knew if
I kept fighting we’d have a chance. I knew they weren’t used to
these conditions so I thought if I kept him running he would
eventually wear down.”
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However, Newman fell in the third set (6-2, 3-6, 7-5), crashing
Florida’s comeback hopes. "We're a very well-conditioned team, but
this is not a track meet," Jackson said.
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"You have to hit the ball. Conditioning-wise, we had an edge but we
didn't take advantage of it late in the match."
