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Thursday, January 23, 2025

The Gators men’s tennis team has grown and proven it can win under the most difficult of circumstances.

No. 6 UF (15-2, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) edged out a 4-3 victory over No. 10 Kentucky (16-7, 5-3 SEC) to give the team it’s first win against a top-10 opponent in a true road environment.

The win over coach Andy Jackson’s alma mater also marked the first time on the road this season that Florida has won four singles matches after losing the doubles point.

The last time the Gators lost the doubles point in a road environment, the singles matches did not go so well either. 

The loss came on Jan. 24th against then-No. 6 Baylor. Down 1-0 the team lost four of six singles matches to lose 5-2.

Three of the newcomers who lost their singles matches at Baylor (Sekou Bangoura Jr., Bob Van Overbeek and Nassim Slilam) were key contributors in Sunday’s win at Kentucky.

Bangoura put the first Florida point on the board with a 6-3, 6-1 win at the No. 6 spot.

No. 7 junior Alexandre Lacroix had his nine-match winning streak snapped on court No. 1 in a 7-6, 6-4 loss to No. 13 Eric Quigley.

Van Overbeek tied the match up with a 6-3, 6-4 win at the No. 4 position.

Van Overbeek is the only member of the team undefeated in SEC singles competition this season.

After sophomore Joey Burkhardt dropped his match at court No. 2 to No. 44 Alex Musialek, the Gators needed two of their French imports to pull through in pressure situations.

On court No. 3, senior Antoine Benneteau needed three sets to get the 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win that tied the match at 3-3.

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The deciding point came from another match that went three sets. Slilam came through with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 win to keep UF unbeaten in SEC play.

The men’s squad, undefeated on its home court this season, returns to Gainesville for the last three matches of the regular season, starting with the two other teams undefeated in conference play, No. 3 Tennessee and No. 8 Georgia.

The No. 3 women’s squad (18-2, 8-0 SEC) sent out seniors Anastasia Revzina and Marrit Boonstra with a 4-0 win over Kentucky (2-16, 0-8 SEC) in an abbreviated match on Sunday.

Due to Kentucky’s travel plans, singles matches were not played out once UF clinched the victory.  Revzina and Boonstra’s matches were among those that did not finish.

“It’s alright,” said Revzina about not finishing her singles match.  “Senior Day is not about winning or losing. 

“It’s about the whole team being there for you.”

Her fellow senior brought up the point that despite the Senior Day ceremony, it may not be their last match at home.

“We’re hoping to host an NCAA Regional,” Boonstra said.  “I’d like to go out playing better tennis in Regionals.”

The team will close out its regular season with a three-match road trip to No. 14 Tennessee, No. 13 Georgia and No. 19 South Carolina.

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