Florida 7, Furman 0
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The 9th-ranked Florida's men's tennis team defeated Furman, 7-0, in the 2011 dual season opener for both schools Friday afternoon in Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla.
The Gators swept the doubles matches to earn the doubles point, with #11 Alexandre Lacroix and Nassim Slilam defeating Sawyer Duncan and Andrew Mellow, 8-3, at number one, and Billy Federhofer and Bob van Overbeek handing Andrei Chvetsov and Tyler Droll an 8-0 loss in the second doubles match. At number three, Sekou Bangoura, Jr. teamed with Andrew Butz for an 8-0 win over Alex Christ and Joel Cook.
In singles action, fourth-ranked Lacroix won the first set, 6-0, over Duncan in the number one match before the Paladin senior rallied for a 7-5 victory in the second set. Lacroix then won the tie-breaker 10-4 for the Gator victory. #52 van Overbeek defeated Chvetsov, 6-0, 6-1 at number two singles, and #28 Bangoura, Jr. beat Christ 6-1, 6-1 in the third singles match. At number four, Federhofer defeated Mellow, 6-0, 6-2, while Slilam defeated Watson George, 6-0, 6-2 at number five. In the sixth singles match, Butz beat Robbie Aru, 6-3, 6-2.
Lipscomb 4, Chattanooga 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team opened the 2011 season with a near six-hour marathon at Lipscomb on Friday. The Mocs battled the Bison well after midnight before falling in a tight 4-3 dual match.
The first ball was served in doubles action at 6:00 p.m. local time at the Richland Country Club in Nashville, Tenn. From there, it would take five hours and 50 minutes to decide the non-conference bout.
Each of the three doubles matches went into extra frames, but Lipscomb was able to sweep the opening point. LU's Mario Hernandez and David Salazar began the evening with a (9-7) win over UTC sophomore Stephen Crofford and junior Sam Parfitt at No. 3 doubles.
The Bison clinched the point when Oliver Strecker and Joe McArdle won the No. 1 match over the Mocs sophomore Roberto Vieira and freshman Trent Cobb (9-8 (4)). The No. 2 match also needed a tie-break and was won by Lipscomb's Tanner Brown and Colby Shaw over Chattanooga sophomores Jackson Tresnan and Chris Smith (9-8 (2)).
LU took a 2-0 lead when Streck defeated Cobb at No. 1 (7-6 (4), 6-2). The Bison went up 3-0 with Salazar's (6-4, 6-4) win over Tresnan at No. 3.
The Mocs finally got on the board, taking the next two matches at No. 2 and No. 4. Vieira, the 2010 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, got off to a good start with his (6-4, 5-7, 6-1) win over Brown at No. 2. Smith won his match (5-7, 6-3, 6-4) against Shaw at No. 4.
McArdle clinched the team win for Lipscomb with a (6-4, 7-6 (5)) victory over Crofford at No. 5. Sophomore William Disterdick got a win in the final match at No. 6. He defeated Hernandez (4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-8)) in a three-set match that included a super-tiebreaker.
Not only was this a one-point contest, but only one of the nine matches did not include extra games, a tie-breaker or three sets.