Sunday will mark almost one year since the last time Florida’s men’s tennis team faced Baylor, but when the teams square off, the circumstances will be nearly identical.
The No. 8 Gators will take the long trip to Waco, Texas, this weekend where they will face the No. 5 Bears in their first dual match of the season.
Following a solid showing at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in Lexington, Ky., last week, the Gators will begin their dual-match schedule with a challenging out-of-conference opponent. Last year, Florida defeated Baylor 5-2, when the doubles team of Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Andrew Butz won a thrilling match to clinch the win.
This year’s Bears boast three of the top 125 singles players in the country, including the trio of No. 20 Mate Zsiga, No. 52 Lars Behlen and No. 54 Roberto Maytin.
Zsiga and Behlen are freshmen from Europe, the former coming from Hungary and the latter coming from Germany.
Last year, Maytin was defeated in singles by Florida’s Nassim Slilam.
The Gators will also be rolling out three players of their own in the national top 125 for singles. Junior Bob van Overbeek, sophomore Spencer Newman and sophomore Andrew Butz will lead the charge of Gators looking to repeat last year’s success.
Florida’s No. 4 doubles team of Nassim Slilam and Billy Federhofer will also be in action following an exit in the Round of 16 at the SEC Indoor Championships. Baylor’s No. 17 team of Maytin and Marko Krickovic likely will be their opponents.
Trying to ride a hot start to the spring season will be sophomore Michael Alford, who won the consolation singles title at the SEC Indoors last weekend. The Tampa native won five straight matches after dropping his opener in Lexington.
Meanwhile, the women’s team is preparing to open with its first dual match on Wednesday when it hosts Troy University at Linder Stadium.
The team was last in action last weekend at the Freeman Memorial Championships in Las Vegas, where junior Caroline Hitimana took the consolation singles title.
