LEXINGTON, Ky. – The sixth-ranked Florida men’s tennis team defeated Auburn, 4-1, in the Southeastern Conference semifinals on Saturday at the University of Kentucky’s Hillary J. Boone Tennis Complex, advancing to Sunday’s conference tournament championship match for the first time since 2008.
The Gators (19-3), the tournament’s No. 2 seed, will face No. 2 Tennessee, the top seed. It will mark Florida’s fourth appearance in the SEC Tournament championship match under head coach Andy Jackson and the program’s sixth overall since the tournament began in 1990. The Gators look to add to their three tournament championships, winning previously in 1994, 2000 and 2005.
“[Auburn] had good energy today, but we try to come out every single match and play as hard as we can,” Florida assistant coach Jeremy Bayon said. “We knew it was going to be difficult, and we knew that doubles was very important today because they’re very good in doubles. Right from the get-go, the guys started to play really well.”
Florida jumped to a quick start, dominating the doubles point from the beginning. The No. 51-ranked pair of Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Joey Burkhardt got the ball rolling with an 8-1 victory on court two, during which Auburn failed to hold serve even once. Daniel Cash and Bob Van Overbeek followed soon after, clinching the doubles point for Florida on court three. No. 14 Antoine Benneteau and Alexandre Lacroix were up a break on court one, serving at 6-5, when the match was abandoned.
“Joey and Sekou got up a break really fast, and I think that gave the other two teams a little bit of breathing air, and I think that helped us a lot,” Bayon said.
“It was great to feel like we had the pressure on them right at the beginning,” Benneteau said.
In singles action, both Van Overbeek and Benneteau jumped to early leads and controlled their respective matches throughout, posting the first two singles victories of the day.
“I served for the match at 5-3 and had two match points,” Benneteau said. “I didn’t play too bad on those points, and their guy played well. I just said, ‘OK, keep your calm, keep fighting on this game, and you’re going to have another chance,’ which I had, so that was great.”
“This time, I think I had a better game plan, just focusing on holding my serve like in doubles” said Van Overbeek, who also defeated Lucas Lopasso in a third-set tiebreaker when Florida and Auburn met in the regular season. “I was trying to attack his second serve and play to his forehand. He has a very good backhand. He was trying to attack with that, so I tried to play to the forehand.”
While Nassim Slilam dropped the first set on court five, he bounced back with a strong second set and appeared well on his way to a three-set victory for a second straight day. However, before Slilam’s match reached the end, Bangoura was able to clinch the match with a straight-sets victory on court one. Bangoura scored an early break in the first set, but then fell behind as Oliver Strecker broke twice and had a chance to serve for the set at 5-3. But Bangoura clamped down and scored the needed break and went on to force a tiebreaker, which he won handily, 7-2. Bangoura then cruised through the second serve, breaking Strecker for the winning point.
“Sekou started really well, and then I think he just lost a little bit of his focus,” Bayon said. “I think he lost a little bit of his game plan. But that’s what is great about college, you have coaches like Andy and me that can just come back and be like, ‘Hey, everything’s good. Just remember what we talked about.’ Then he went back to playing the right way and being patient and making the other guy work hard.”
SEC MEN’S TENNIS TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
At Hillary J. Boone Tennis Complex, Lexington, Ky.
No. 6 FLORIDA 4, No. 37 AUBURN 1
DOUBLES
1. (14) Antoine Benneteau-Alexandre Lacroix (F) vs. (13) Tim Puetz-Alex Stamchev (AU), 6-5 (DNF); 2. (51) Sekou Bangoura Jr.-Joey Burkhardt (F) def. Andy Mies-Michel Montiero, 8-1; 3. Daniel Cash-Bob Van Overbeek (F) def. Tim Hewitt-Lucas Lopasso, 8-5. Order of finish: 2, 3. Florida wins doubles point, 2-0.
SINGLES
1. (20) Tim Puetz (AU) def. (5) Alexandre Lacroix, 6-3, 6-4; 2. (113) Joey Burkhardt (F) vs. (97) Alex Stamchev (AU), 4-6, 5-4 (DNF); 3. Antoine Benneteau (F) def. Tim Hewitt, 6-1, 6-4; 4. Bob Van Overbeek (F) def. Lucas Lopasso, 6-3, 6-3; 5. Nassim Slilam (F) vs. Oliver Strecker (AU), 3-6, 6-4, 4-1 (DNF); 6. Sekou Bangoura Jr. (F) def. Andy Mies, 7-6 (2), 6-2. Order of finish: 4, 3, 1, 6.
Records: Florida 19-3, Auburn 11-12.
No. 2 TENNESSEE 4, No. 19 MISSISSIPPI 0
DOUBLES
1. (4) John-Patrick Smith-Davey Sandgren (T) def. (26) Marcel Thiemann-Chris Thiemann, 9-8 (6); 2. (8) Boris Conkic-Rhyne Williams (T) vs. Tucker Vorster-Jonas Lutjen (M), 6-7, DNF; 3. Matteo Fago-Edward Jones (T) def. Harry Fowler-Adrian Skogeng, 8-6. Order of finish: 3-1. Tennessee wins doubles point, 2-0.
SINGLES
1. (1) John-Patrick Smith (T) def. (49) Marcel Thiemann, 6-1, 6-3; 2. (37) Boris Conkic (T) def. (88) Tucker Vorster, 6-4, 6-2; 3. (44) Rhyne Williams (T) def. Jonas Lutjen, 6-4, 6-1; 4. (114) Tennys Sandgren (T) vs. Chris Thiemann (M), 7-6 (3), 4-2, DNF; 5. Matteo Fago (T) vs. Adrian Skogeng (M), 1-2, DNF; 6. Davey Sandgren (T) vs. Harry Fowler (M), 1-0, DNF. Order of finish: 1, 3, 2.
Records: Tennessee 25-1, Mississippi 18-7.