Though the Florida tennis team kicked off its season Saturday, senior Bob van Overbeek had to wait until Wednesday night to get on the court.
In his first match of the year, he made a statement.
Van Overbeek won both his singles and doubles match as No. 12 Florida (2-0) secured a 7-0 win against UCF (1-2) at Linder Stadium.
Defeating the Knights’ Jose Sangroniz in two sets 6-0, 6-1, took van Overbeek only 45 minutes.
The five other singles matches lasted an average of 1 hour and 18 minutes.
“Bob did a great job of being the catalyst for the team in his first match this season for us,” coach Bryan Shelton said in a release.
“I was happy to see him not only start the match well, but finish it off well. I thought overall we just played solid tennis and competed well.”
Van Overbeek, currently ranked No. 51 in the ITA singles rankings, didn’t have the fall season he hoped for.
He began the season ranked No. 17 in the nation and won his first three matches before spiraling downward.
He went 7-6 the rest of the fall season. His last win without dropping at least four games was on Oct. 19, when he crushed FGCU’s Dean Tsamas 6-0, 6-0.
A strong start is something Florida will need from its senior leader, considering van Overbeek played as the No. 1 singles player most of last season.
He played as the No. 3 singles player against the Knights.
Doubles was much of the same for van Overbeek. After switching between four different doubles partners in the fall, van Overbeek finished with a record of 3-5.
But by the end of the fall campaign, he had found his partner — junior Stephane Piro.
Piro and van Overbeek led the charge in doubles on Wednesday, beating UCF’s Francesc Aulina and Jorge Blasco 8-1.
The Gators will be back on the court this weekend when it hosts the 2013 ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
Florida will play St. John’s on Saturday at 10 a.m.
UF senior Bob van Overbeek returns a volley. Van Overbeek won only his second match since Feb. 3 against Ole Miss on Friday.
