Florida has had a rough time in doubles in 2013. In the team’s seven losses, six have come from the team dropping the doubles point.
That trend remained true in Sunday's match.
The Auburn Tigers (11-6, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) tamed the No. 18 Florida Gators 4-0 (9-7, 3-3 SEC), giving the Gators their second shutout loss in four games. The match wrapped up a five-match road swing.
Coach Bryan Shelton believes there is a correlation between losing the doubles point and losing the overall match.
“I think that we had some tennis matches throughout the season where we have lost the doubles point, but I look at the guys and see their energy at such a high level, so I know we have to take that to singles,” Shelton said on Wednesday.
In doubles, Gators’ Billy Federhofer and Gordon Watson couldn’t hold off the Tigers’ Dennis Lengsfeld and Lucas Lopasso, who cruised to an 8-3 victory.
Federhofer said on Wednesday that he gets a little passive in his matches and that’s something he is looking to improve on.
“I want to make sure I keep staying aggressive and strong throughout the whole match and approach each match with the same mentality,” Federhofer said.
UF lost the doubles point when Mike Alford and Florent Diep dropped their match, clinching Auburn's first doubles point in SEC play all season.
Florida’s pair of Bob van Overbeek and Stephane Piro came into the match ranked 57th in doubles.
The No. 1 duo, however, is only 1-3 in SEC play this season. They couldn’t finish their match against third-ranked Andreas Miles and Daniel Cochrane.
The lack of momentum the team had from losing doubles transferred over to singles play, where Alford struggled on Sunday.
He was the first Gator off of the court, losing 2-6, 3-6. He has dropped five of his last seven matches.
After getting out of an eight-match losing streak, van Overbeek finally won at the No. 3 spot on Friday. But van Overbeek couldn’t bring that momentum into his match against Auburn’s Lukas Ollert, losing in straight sets.
Diep replaced van Overbeek at the top of the lineup after his losing streak. But since he began playing at the No. 1 spot, Diep has dropped all four matches. Diep lost both sets 4-6.
Florida’s next match comes against No. 48 LSU
Junior Florent Diep strikes the ball during Florida’s 5-2 victory against Miami on Jan. 19 at Linder Stadium.
