The No. 15 University of Florida men’s tennis team (12-5, 5-1 SEC) is sitting at third place in the Southeastern Conference. Friday marks the first step towards passing division leaders University of Georgia and University of Tennessee.
Their opponent is no slouch either. The Gators will host the No. 14 University of Kentucky (18-6, 3-3 SEC) Friday at 3 p.m. in Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex. The Wildcats are looking to avenge a 4-1 road SEC loss against No. 18 Auburn University. In their last 10 matches, eight of whom have gone against ranked opponents, the Wildcats have gone 8-2.
Gator Head Coach Andy Jackson realizes that Friday’s match will be just as difficult as their recent battles against Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
“Kentucky is ahead of us in the race to host a NCAA Regional. They also went to Ole Miss and Mississippi State and won very easily,” Jackson said. “We understand how tough Kentucky is and how big of a match it is for them and for us. We are looking forward to playing.”
Last week was a trying week for the Gator tennis team. They went 1-2 and dropped a home SEC match to Ole Miss 4-3. It is their recent 4-3 win against Mississippi State in Starkville that gives Jackson optimism for his team heading forward.
“We were struggling, but we responded and won in a match where we could have lost. That gives us a lot of confidence and puts us 4-3 in 4-3 matches,” Jackson said. “We don’t have a big margin of error. To get a good one like that helps us a lot in terms of emotional feeling for the group.”
In a hostile MSU environment, the Gators were able to ride senior No. 6 Alexandre Lacroix to victory. Lacroix was able to knock off No. 2 Artem Ilyushin, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5), to seal the victory for Florida.
Jackson expressed high praise for Lacroix, the second all-time wins leader at UF.
“Alex is one of the all-time greats at Florida having won more doubles matches than anyone else. He is in the top-10 in almost every other category. He is the leader of this team,” Jackson said.
Lacroix will be depended on to control Kentucky’s top player No. 7 Eric Quigley who has been ranked as high as No. 2 this season. Wildcat junior No. 47 Alex Musialek will also factor into this matchup. Musialek earned the lone victory for the Wildcats in their road loss to Auburn.
Sophomore Sekou Bangoura Jr., coming off his 50th career singles win against Mississippi State, is quickly becoming a dependable player for the Gators.
Jackson appreciates the solid play that Bangoura has provided for the team this year. Banngoura is 26-8 in singles and 12-8 in doubles play for the 2010-11 campaign.
“Sekou is the rock of our team because he is winning singles and doubles for us. He is extremely low maintenance and calm under the gun,” Jackson said. “He is a huge part of our team.”
Another key part of this team going forward will be freshman Spencer Newman, who was named SEC Freshman of the Week. Newman, a January enrollee, has found himself the last two meetings in matches that had a huge bearing on whether the Gators won.
Against Ole Miss, Newman fought hard in a three-set heartbreaker that clinched the victory for the Rebels. He rose to the occasion against MSU.
In his first doubles match of his collegiate career, he and fellow freshman Andrew Butz picked up an 8-4 victory for the Gators. In singles play, Newman found himself a set down against Zach White. He took over the remainder of the match coming through in a must-win situation for the Gators with a 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Newman understands that the award is a nice honor, but he needs to concentrate on the matches at hand.
“Well, it’s my first award that I’ve received as a Gator and that feels good,” Newman said. “But I am just going to go out and practice like I normally do and compete in my usual way.”
In addition to the Kentucky matchup, the Gator tennis team faces No. 30 Vanderbilt University (9-7, 0-5 SEC) Sunday at 1 p.m. in Gainesville.
Gator Country reporter Adam Pincus can be reached at adam@gatorcountry.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/adamDpincus.