BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 7 Florida men’s tennis team won its second road SEC match of the weekend, defeating LSU, 7-0, Sunday at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
“SEC teams don’t win in Baton Rouge very often, so we were happy to get out with a win regardless of the score,” Florida coach Andy Jackson said. “Our team showed a lot of composure and toughness in a tense match and especially a tense doubles point.”
The 43rd-ranked pair of Joey Burkhardt and Sekou Bangoura Jr. got Florida rolling in doubles with an 8-1 victory over Sebastian Carlsson and Stefan Szacinski at the No. 2 position.
After a rare loss at the No. 1 position by No. 16 Antoine Benneteau and Alexandre Lacroix, the Gators needed a Court 3 win by Billy Federhofer and Bob Van Overbeek over Olivier Borsos and Julien Gauthier.
Federhofer and Van Overbeek found themselves down a break at 6-5, but broke back to get to 6-6. The UF pair then held serve to go up 7-6 before breaking once again to take the match, 8-6, and give Florida the doubles point.
“It was a turning point in the match,” Jackson said. “They handled the tension of being on the road in a crucial situation. It gave us the momentum, and we were able to break the match open once we got into singles.”
Florida swept all six singles courts, dropping only one set in the process. Burkhardt and Van Overbeek provided the first two singles points for Florida, while Bangoura scored the clincher from the No. 5 position.
The sixth-ranked Lacroix then picked up his 14th win of 2009-10 against a ranked opponent, downing No. 44 Neal Skupski, 7-5, 6-2. No. 121 Benneteau improved his singles record in dual match play to 10-1 with his win over Gauthier at No. 3.
Nassim Slilam finished off the Gator sweep, bouncing back from a first set in which he was shut out to roll past Borsos in three sets. Slilam currently holds a team-best nine-match winning streak.
The Gator return home to Linder Stadium to play Auburn at 3 p.m. Friday and No. 25 Alabama at 1 p.m. Sunday.
No. 7 FLORIDA 7, LOUISIANA STATE 0
At W.T. Robinson Stadium, Baton Rouge, La.
DOUBLES
1. Roger Anderson-Neal Skupski (LSU) def. (16) Antoine Benneteau-Alexandre Lacroix, 8-6; 2. (43) Sekou Bangoura Jr.-Joey Burkhardt (F) def. Sebastian Carlsson-Stefan Szacinski, 8-1; 3. Billy Federhofer-Bob Van Overbeek (F) def. Olivier Borsos-Julien Gauthier, 8-6. Order of finish: 2, 1, 3.
SINGLES
1. (6) Alexandre Lacroix (F) def. (44) Neal Skupski, 7-5, 6-2; 2. Joey Burkhardt (F) def. Sebastian Carlsson, 6-3, 6-1; 3. (121) Antoine Benneteau (F) def. Julien Gauthier, 6-3, 6-3; 4. Bob Van Overbeek (F) def. Stefan Szacinski, 6-1, 6-2; 5. Sekou Bangoura Jr. (F) def. Mark Bowtell, 6-3, 6-2; 6. Nassim Slilam (F) def. Olivier Borsos, 0-6, 6-2, 6-2. Order of finish: 2, 4, 5, 1, 3, 6.
Records: Florida 10-2, 2-0 SEC; Louisiana State 3-6, 1-1 SEC.