Surely, the Gators are glad to be done with the month of March. The No. 11 men (11-7, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) had a month full of close matches, many resulting in defeat.
Friday night, their last match of the month, was a different result, perhaps signaling the beginning of a turnaround. The Gators defeated No. 16 Auburn 7-0, ending the month 3-4 but on a two-match win streak.
Florida turned in one of its most complete performances of the season, sweeping doubles play before going on to win all of the singles matches. Coach Andy Jackson was impressed with his team, saying that even through this was a tough month, the Gators have continued to improve.
“We played a good match. It was a lot closer than the score,” he said. “We felt that Auburn could have beaten us at any of the spots. What feels good is that we’re making some progress. We’ve made some progress through some losses, and hopefully make some progress through some wins.”
The Gators, who have not shut out an opponent since blanking USF on February 28th, did not exactly dominate Auburn. When it counted, though, players came through with big shots. On Court 1, Florida’s Bob van Overbeek upset No. 27 Andy Mies in straight sets in a convincing display.
Next to him, Nassim Slilam, a player singled out by Jackson earlier this month for “trying harder than anyone I’ve ever seen”, also defeated his opponent in straight sets. It was a good sign for the Gators, who have seen their No. 1 player struggle while Slilam has been inconsistent at No. 2.
Meanwhile in Alabama, the No. 2 Florida women’s team shut out Auburn 7-0. That, too, was a match that was much closer than the score would indicate. The match lasted more than four hours, but the Gators proved too much for the younger Tigers.
“This was a greatly improved Auburn team and they gave us a real battle,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “It was a four-hour-and-15-minute, 7-0 sweep. I’ve never been involved with a match like that before today. I thought we played well and were resilient. Overall, I thought it was a really good tennis match and performance.”
