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Wednesday, November 27, 2024

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After No. 29 Ole Miss raced out to a 3-0 lead and looked to cruise

to victory, the No. 13 Florida men’s tennis team clawed back and

tied the match before eventually falling 4-3.

"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">In

a match that lasted four hours and 36 minutes, every singles

matchup went into three sets and two topped the three-hour

mark.

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“Ole Miss played hard, played well and deserved to win today,”

coach Andy Jackson said. "We fought unbelievably hard."

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The Gators (11-5, 4-1 Southeastern Conference), who dropped their

first match in conference play, gave up the doubles point early in

the day, and for the came out slow in singles for the second

straight match.

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The Rebels (9-4, 3-2 SEC) were able to extend their lead after No.

55 Marcel Thiemann upset No. 6 Alexandre Lacroix on Court 1.

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Ole Miss then struck again about 15 minutes later when No. 102

Tucker Vorster topped UF junior Nassim Slilam on Court 3. 

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Loyal Florida fans finally got something to cheer about when UF

notched its first point in almost three and a half hours after

freshman Andrew Butz scored a three-set win over Ole Miss' Adrian

Forberg-Skogeng.

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Florida's Sekou Bangoura Jr., Billy Federhofer and freshman Spencer

Newman were each behind in their matches, but both Bangoura and

Federhofer came back and won after their opponents tired. 

"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">"I

was thinking we would win as long as we stayed aggressive and

didn't just hope that they would miss because they got tired,"

Jackson said.

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The marathon lengths of the matches finally started getting to Ole

Miss, as two players were treated for injuries and cramps.

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Federhofer won his match on Court 4 when Jonas Lutjen retired due

to be leg cramps, and Bangoura took control of his match with a 5-2

lead in the third set before winning 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, capping off his

own comeback. 

"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">“I

just kept telling myself to keep going,” Bangoura said. “I knew if

I kept fighting we’d have a chance. I knew they weren’t used to

these conditions so I thought if I kept him running he would

eventually wear down.”

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However, Newman fell in the third set (6-2, 3-6, 7-5), crashing

Florida’s comeback hopes. "We're a very well-conditioned team, but

this is not a track meet," Jackson said.

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"You have to hit the ball. Conditioning-wise, we had an edge but we

didn't take advantage of it late in the match."

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