On a picture-perfect Saturday, the Gators played some
picture-perfect tennis.
Hosting the ITA Kickoff Weekend, a two-day tournament
whose winner will compete in the ITA Indoor Championships next
month, No. 5 Florida swept the New Mexico Lobos (2-1) to advance to
Sunday’s final against No. 41 Wake Forest.
While the Lobos put up some major fights, especially
in singles, the Gators were able to assert their dominance and win
every match. Florida won all three doubles matches and all six
singles matches, with only one match going more than two sets.
“We beat a solid team today, and now we’ll have a
chance to play tomorrow to go to the Indoor, which is very, very
important to us,” he said.
Florida’s No. 4 doubles team of Billy Federhofer and
Nassim Slilam got off the court in just 38 minutes, defeating New
Mexico’s No. 16 Jadon Phillips and Phil Anderson in a match that
really set the tone for the day’s competition. Florida’s other two
doubles teams of No. 41 Frank Carleton and Spencer Newman, and No.
25 Andrew Butz and Bob van Overbeek defeated their opponents 8-4
and 8-3, respectively.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever been ranked in
doubles,” Newman said. “I wasn’t playing doubles last season, so
(Carleton) and I are off to a good start.”
Newman, ranked No. 84 individually, was also the
first Gator off the court in singles, putting away Conor Berg 6-1,
6-0 in just one hour. The junior from Miami was sharp in all
aspects of his game, especially playing from the baseline.
“I feel pretty strong, pretty confident so far,” he
said. “Knowing I can beat the other guy from the baseline helps
out.”
While three other Florida players cruised to
victories, two got major challenges from their opponents. No. 69
Bob van Overbeek, who was the only Florida player to lose Sunday at
Baylor, bounced back with a big 6-2, 6-3 victory over New Mexico’s
No. 81 Jadon Phillips. In the clincher minutes later, sophomore
Michael Alford defeated his opponent, Mads Hegelund, 6-1, 6-2.
Nassim Slilam, whom Jackson had praised during the
week for his senior leadership, fought off a late charge and beat
Ben Dunbar 6-1, 6-4. By the time Slilam’s match was complete, both
Andrew Butz and Florent Diep were still fighting hard against their
opponents.
Butz, a Vero Beach native, went into a tiebreak with
Carl Ho in the first set, but came out victorious. After dropping
the second set, the sophomore won the super-tiebreak with Ho to win
the match, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 1-0 (10-7). Diep’s match was the last to
finish as he defeated the Lobos’ Phil Anderson. The French
sophomore, in his first semester at Florida, faced a style of play
that Jackson said he was not accustomed to.
“[Anderson] is really good at coming forward, and
it’s a type of style he hasn’t seen for a while,” Jackson said. “He
made too many errors when the guy was at the net, but that’s not
going to last forever.”
After Saturday’s shutout, the Gators have won 13 of
14 possible points in the dual match season. However, there is
still much work to do. While Jackson said the team was definitely
not at its best, tomorrow’s match against Wake Forest will provide
a chance to improve.
“I’m not sure we made improvements because it was a
different situation than playing a Top-5 team on the road,” he
said. “But I think we can improve from today to tomorrow.”
