Florida men’s tennis coach Andy Jackson didn’t like the outcome Friday afternoon, but he did like the way his sixth-ranked Gators played in a 4-3 loss to No. 4 Tennessee at the Linder Stadium/Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators (15-3, 7-1 SEC) started slowly but gave the Volunteers (21-1, 9-0 SEC) all they could handle.
“I’m very proud of my guys,” Jackson said. “This loss wasn’t because of a lack of investment or heart. We’ll improve and try to do better down the road. I feel like if we played tomorrow, every court could be different. These are two very good teams.”
For only the third time this season, Florida lost the doubles point to start in a 1-0 hole. At No. 1 doubles, the Tennessee duo of Davey Sandgren and John-Patrick Smith, ranked No. 2 in the country, beat the No. 12 team of Antoine Benneteau and Alexandre Lacroix, 8-6. Florida senior Daniel Cash and freshman Bob Van Overbeek combined for an 8-5 victory at No. 3 doubles over Tennessee’s Matteo Fago and Edward Jones. That left the point to be decided by the No. 2 doubles teams and Tennessee’s duo of Boris Conkic and Rhyne Williams, ranked No. 4 nationally, beat Florida’s No. 49-ranked team of Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Joey Burkhardt, 8-3.
“The doubles point wasn’t the whole match,” Jackson said. “Sometimes it’s easy to look at that point and say that’s what decided the match, but we could’ve won singles on (courts) three, four or six, and it would have changed the outcome.”
Burkhardt got the Gators rolling in the right direction in singles action, scoring a 7-5, 6-2 victory on court two over No. 26 Conkic. Burkhardt fell behind, 4-0, in the first set, but won 13 of the next 16 games to win the match. It marked the highest-ranked opponent that the Gator sophomore has beaten in his career (Burkhardt is 1-2 against Top 30 opponents).
“I got off to a slow start, but against Tennessee and Georgia I always seem to play better and can dig a little deeper,” Burkhardt said. “I played better than I have been, and it was good to get the result. It’ll be nice to have that confidence going forward.”
Moments later, Van Overbeek (No. 4) and Benneteau (No. 3) each fell just short of forcing a third set on their respective courts, and the Volunteers pulled out to a 3-1 lead. But Lacroix, ranked seventh nationally, earned a 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over Smith, the No. 2 singles player in the nation, to pull the Gators back to within one, 3-2. The Lacroix victory was his second of the season over a top-five opponent (he beat Georgia Tech’s No. 4 Guillermo Gomez earlier this year) and it was Smith’s first loss in SEC play this season.
But just minutes after Lacroix closed out his victory, Tennessee clinched the victory when Davey Sandgren scored a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 5 singles over a gritty Nassim Slilam. That made it 4-2 Tennessee and Bangoura closed out the match with a 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8) victory over Matteo Fago. It was Bangoura’s team-high 15th victory this season and Fago’s first loss in the SEC.
Florida will attempt to rebound Sunday at Linder Stadium when it plays host to No. 8 Georgia at 1 p.m. Georgia beat South Carolina, 4-3, Friday afternoon to raise its records to 17-4 overall, 9-0 in the SEC. Admission is free.
“We saw where we were against one of the best teams in the country today,” Lacroix said. “We were very close. We’ll try to think about this and use it.”
No. 4 TENNESSEE 4, No. 6 FLORIDA 3
At Linder Stadium/Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Fla.
DOUBLES
1. (2) Davey Sandgren/John-Patrick Smith (T) def. (12) Antoine Benneteau-Alexandre Lacroix, 8-6; 2. (4) Boris Conkic-Rhyne Williams (T) def. (49) Sekou Bangoura Jr.-Joey Burkhardt, 8-3; 3. Daniel Cash-Bob Van Overbeek (F) def. Matteo Fago-Edward Jones, 8-5. Order of finish: 1, 3, 2. Tennessee wins doubles point, 2-1.
SINGLES
1. (7) Alexandre Lacroix (F) def. (2) John-Patrick Smith, 6-4, 7-6 (3); 2. Joey Burkhardt (F) def. (26) Boris Conkic, 7-5, 6-2; 3. (49) Rhyne Williams (T) def. Antoine Benneteau, 7-5, 6-3; 4. (111) Tennys Sandren (T) def. Bob Van Overbeek, 6-4, 6-4; 5. Sekou Bangoura Jr. (F) def. Matteo Fago, 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8); 6. Davey Sandgren (T) def. Nassim Slilam, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Order of finish: 2, 3, 4, 2, 6, 5.
Records: Tennessee 21-1, 9-0 SEC; Florida 15-3, 7-1 SEC.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
Eastern Division Conference Overall
(Rnk) Team W-L Pct. W-L Pct.
(4) Tennessee 9-0 1.000 21-1 .955
(8) Georgia 9-0 1.000 17-4 .810
(6) Florida 7-1 .875 15-3 .833
(11) Kentucky 6-3 .667 19-7 .731
(32) Vanderbilt 4-5 .444 12-8 .600
(43) South Carolina 1-8 .125 9-10 .474
Western Division Conference Overall
(Rnk) Team W-L Pct. W-L Pct.
(17) Mississippi 5-4 .556 14-5 .737
(37) Auburn 4-5 .444 8-10 .444
(28) Alabama 4-5 .444 11-10 .524
(51) Louisiana State 2-7 .222 5-13 .278
(55) Mississippi State 1-7 .125 8-10 .444
(59) Arkansas 1-8 .111 9-12 .429
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY / April 9
Tennessee 4, Florida 3
Georgia 4, South Carolina 3
Kentucky 4, Louisiana State 1
Alabama 4, Mississippi State 3
Mississippi 5, Auburn 2
Vanderbilt 4, Arkansas 2
SUNDAY / April 11
Georgia at Florida, 1 p.m.
Kentucky at Arkansas, 12:30 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Louisiana State, 1 p.m.
Tennessee at South Carolina, 1 p.m.
Alabama at Mississippi, 2 p.m.
Auburn at Mississippi State, 2 p.m.
TUESDAY / April 13
South Florida at Louisiana State, 4 p.m.
WEDNESDAY / April 14
Alabama at UAB, 2 p.m.
Ohio State at Mississippi, 3 p.m.
Alabama at Samford, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY / April 17
South Carolina at Florida, 1 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Kentucky, 1 p.m.
Mississippi State at Mississippi, 2 p.m.
Georgia at Tennessee, 2 p.m.
Louisiana State at Arkansas, 2 p.m.
Auburn at Alabama, 6 p.m.
THURSDAY-SUNDAY / April 22-25
SEC Men’s Tennis Championship at Kentucky
ITA MEN’S RANKINGS
April 6, 2010
1. Virginia; 2. Ohio State; 3. Southern California; 4. Tennessee; 5. Texas; 6. Florida; 7. Stanford; 8. Georgia; 9. Baylor; 10. UCLA;
11. Kentucky; 12. Texas A&M; 13. Illinois; 14. Texas Tech; 15. California; 16. Louisville; 17. Mississippi; 18. Wake Forest; 19. North Carolina; 20. Duke;
21. Oklahoma; 22. Washington; 23. Virginia Tech; 24. Georgia Tech; 25. Florida State; 26. Michigan; 27. Pepperdine; 28. Alabama; 29. Fresno State; 30. Denver;
31. Tulsa; 32. Vanderbilt; 33. Wisconsin; 34. Brigham Young; 35. Arizona; 36. Notre Dame; 37. Auburn; 38. Nebraska; 39. Minnesota; 40. Clemson;
41. Indiana; 42. Rice; 43. South Carolina; 44. Hawaii; 45. Columbia; 46. Oklahoma State; 47. North Carolina State; 48. Northwestern; 49. Boise State; 50. Miami, Fla.;
51. Louisiana State; 52. Binghamton; 53. UC Irvine; 54. South Carolina Upstate; 55. Mississippi State; 56. Texas Christian; 57. East Tennessee State; 58. San Diego; 59. Arkansas; 60. Iowa;
61. UC Santa Barbara; 62. Troy; 63. Penn State; 65. William & Mary; 66. UNLV; 67. San Francisco; 68. Cornell; 69. Harvard; 70. Idaho;
71. UCF; 72. Oregon; 73. UNC Wilmington; 74. College of Charleston; 75. San Diego State.