The seventh-ranked Florida men’s tennis team punched its ticket to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with a 6-1 victory over North Carolina State at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex on Saturday. The Gators will be one of 16 teams in the national tournament, held Feb. 18-21 in Seattle, Wash.
“It’s very important because we want to be among the best teams in the country,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “You have to earn your way to Seattle to get to play in the national team indoor, which is basically the same as the Round of 16 in the NCAAs. It’s going to be very good for us to see that level of competition, and, frankly, we feel like we can do some damage. So it was very important to get through and get the opportunity to go.”
Florida posted a dominant doubles performance, led by an 8-0 whitewash on court three by Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton) and Billy Federhofer (North Miami) that lasted 38 minutes. Eleventh-ranked Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) and Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) provided the clincher with an 8-4 court one victory. With the doubles point clinched, the match on court two was abandoned with Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton) and Andrew Butz (Vero Beach) leading, 7-2.
Slilam was hardly touched in his singles match, winning 6-1, 6-0 against Rafael Paez. Slilam took the first five games and the final seven games to bring the first singles point to the Gators in just 43 minutes.
“I just was talking to him about that,” Jackson said. “When you play team matches, it’s not only, ‘Do you win?’ But when you get somebody that can really crush the opponent and get off the court and put us up 2-0, it puts them under a lot of pressure and takes a lot of pressure off our guys. He’s really starting to find his game, and if he does it will help the Gators a tremendous amount.”
Bob van Overbeek then posted his 10th straight singles win dating back to the fall season with a straight-sets victory over No. 82 Dave Thomson on court three, highlighted by strong serving from the sophomore.
“It’s starting to feel a little bit better each match,” van Overbeek said. “The serve is something I worked on a lot over the break, so it’s nice to come back and get some results from what you’ve worked on.”
The clincher came from Lacroix on court one, as he won eight of the final 10 games on the way to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 61 Jaime Pulgar.
The teams played out the remainder of the singles matches, with Federhofer and Bangoura both picking up wins for Florida while Ivan Sanchez Gomez topped Butz in a third-set tiebreaker on court six.
The Gators will next be in action at home against UCF on Friday, Feb. 4, at 3 p.m. Admission is free.
#7 Florida vs. North Carolina State
ITA Kick-Off Weekend
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Jan. 29, 2011
Doubles
1 – *(11) Lacroix/Slilam (UF) def. Hodgson/Sullivan (NCSU) – 8-4 (:38)
2 – Bangoura/Butz (UF) led Pulgar/D. Thomson (NCSU) – 7-2 (DNF)
3 – Federhofer/van Overbeek (UF) def. Gomez/Weber (NCSU) – 8-0 (:35)
Order of Finish: 3-1
Singles
1 – *(4) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. (61) Jaime Pulgar (NCSU) – 6-4, 6-2 (1:17)
2 – (28) Sekou Bangoura Jr. def. (82) Dominic Hodgson (NCSU) – 6-3, 6-3 (1:27)
3 – (52) Bob van Overbeek (UF) def. (106) Dave Thomson (NCSU) – 6-2, 6-3 (:58)
4 – Nassim Slilam (UF) def. Rafael Paez (NCSU) – 6-1, 6-0 (:43)
5 – Billy Federhofer (UF) def. Julian Sullivan (NCSU) – 6-1, 6-4 (1:18)
6 – Ivan Sanchez Gomez (NCSU) def. Andrew Butz (UF) – 4-6, 6-3, (10-5) (1:42)
Order of Finish: 4-3-1-5-2-6
*Clinching court