The Gators are heading to Palo Alto, Calif.
The UF men's tennis team defeated one of its biggest rivals to win its NCAA Regional and advance to the championship site of the 2011 NCAA Tournament at Stanford.
The Gators' 4-0 victory over Miami on Sunday at Linder Stadium was a monumental one not only for the team, but for senior leader Alexandre Lacroix, who moved into first place on UF's all-time career wins list with his 209th and 210th victories.
"It's amazing. I thought about it a little because I knew I was close to the record," Lacroix said. "It feels amazing in my last home match beating this record. I know there's been a lot of great players at Florida and it feels great to get a couple of wins to finish it up."
Lacroix and doubles partner Sekou Bangoura Jr. continued their run of strong play with an 8-2 victory on Court 1 to clinch the doubles point for UF. That was on Saturday night, as a rain delay pushed the match from a scheduled 3 p.m. start time to a 9:09 p.m. start.
Another instance of pouring rain Saturday night led the teams to postpone the match to Sunday morning, where they picked things up in the middle of singles play. Lacroix notched a 6-1, 6-1 win over UM's Keith Crowley on Court 1, but needed five match points to finally close it out.
"That really has some symmetry to it for us because he's been our leader in every area this season," coach Andy Jackson said. "For him to be able to win his last home match and become the all-time Gator wins leader [on a list with] many, many great players, it's an honor and it's something I'm very proud of him for."
Jackson called Lacroix the team's only indispensable player, saying the Gators will lean on his leadership when it heads to California to play Southeastern Conference rival Kentucky on Thursday at 3 p.m. EST.
"We feel like we've got a chance, but we've only got a chance because of Alex. If anybody else gets injured or doesn't play well, we've got some other guys we can put in to sort pick up the slack. But we're very dependent on Alex, and he's obviously been very dependable this year. We're excited about giving him a chance to lead us further when we get out to Palo Alto."
When Florida meets Kentucky in the Sweet 16, it will be the third time the two have played this year. Most recently, the Gators beat the Wildcats in the SEC Tournament Final.
"I told my guys after the match, there's only one other thing that's more exciting than getting to go to the Sweet 16 in men's college tennis," Jackson said. "And that's to be able to go to the Sweet 16 with a team that has a chance."
