Billy Federhofer’s hard work in practice shot him up from the No. 6 singles position in the beginning of the season to the No. 3 spot.
The senior hadn’t lost since Feb. 3, but his new ranking in the lineup came with the price of a tougher opponent.
Federhofer finally faced an opponent who could get the better of him in LSU’s Olivier Borsos. Federhofer dropped his singles match in straight sets.
He had been the go-to guy for a sure victory for the past month and a half, but tonight Florida had to rely on someone else to step up. However, the Gators (9-8, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) trotted out a new lineup and lost their second straight match after the Tigers (9-7, 3-4 SEC) defeated them 4-2.
With senior Bob van Overbeek sitting out singles, freshman Luke Johnson was inserted into the lineup.
Van Overbeek has been struggling lately, but the freshman stepped up in his place and won his matchup. Johnson’s efforts were not enough, though. His win only pushed the Gators to get within one point of the Tigers.
Florida’s Gordon Watson needed to win to continue the match and avoid a defeat. He made easy work of LSU’s Boris Arias in the first set, but Arias stormed back to win the second and third set, which eventually clinched the match for the Tigers.
Florida’s rough start did not help. The team lost doubles for the second match in a row. When the team loses doubles, it usually means bad news is soon to follow. In seven of the team’s eight losses, Florida has lost the doubles point.
“We’ve just got to do a better job of closing,” said coach Bryan Shelton in a release. “We’ve got to be able to finish the game, finish the match. We had too many games where we had 15-40 on their serve, or 0-40, or 0-30, and we’re not converting. That comes down to mentally being a little bit tougher out there.”
UF senior Bob van Overbeek returns a volley. Van Overbeek won only his second match since Feb. 3 against Ole Miss on Friday.
