NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 9 Florida Gators handed the No. 49 Vanderbilt Commodores a third-straight conference loss, defeating the Dores in Friday’s afternoon match.
“We lost to a team that outplayed us today and they showed us in various places what we have to do better,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “We’ll get right back to it tomorrow morning.”
Florida led after sweeping the doubles point. Alex DiValerio and Joe Dorn put up a fight on the third and final court after the Gators clinched the point, but dropped the match after netting a shot.
Florent Diep gave the Gators a 2-0 lead, defeating Anton Kovrigin 6-1, 6-2, and Billy Federhofer put the Gators within a point of the win with his 6-2, 6-1 win over Dorn.
Tripper Carleton clinched for the Gators with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Blake Bazarnik on court 3.
Charlie Jones put the Commodores on the board when he forced a ten-point tiebreaker third set after beating #51 Bob van Overbeck 6-2 in the second set. He won for the Commodores’ lone point, 10-7 in the tiebreak. Jones picked up his tenth win of the season with the win.
“I thought Charlie did a great job,” said Duvenhage. “I liked the way we finished more than the way we started.”
Nassim Slilam rounded out the scoring for the Gators with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Gonzales Austin, with Austin forcing matchpoint multiple times before ultimately dropping the last set 7-5.
Vanderbilt drops to 0-3 in conference play and 5-7 overall. They turn around and hosts the 33-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. CT at the Currey Tennis Center.
Results:
Singles:
1. #62 Charlie Jones (VU) def. #51 Bob van Overbeek (UF) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7)
2. Nassim Slilam (UF) def. Gonzales Austin (VU) 6-4, 7-5
3. Tripper Carleton (UF) def. Blake Bazarnik (VU) 6-2, 6-4
4. #70 Spencer Newman (UF) def. Jeff Offerdahl (VU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Florent Diep (UF) def. Anton Kovrigin (VU) 6-1, 6-0
6. Billy Federhofer (UF) def. Joe Dorn (VU) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles:
1. #8 Slilam-Federhofer (UF)def. Austin-Bazarnik (VU) 8-3
2. #18 Carleton-Newman (UF) def. Jones-Kovrigin (VU) 8-2
3. #43 van Overbeek- Butz (UF) def. DiValerio-Dorn (VU) 8-4
Match Notes:
#49 Vanderbilt, 5-7(0-3 SEC)
#9 Florida, 9-4 (2-1 SEC)
Order of Finish: Singles (5,6,3,4,1,2) Doubles (1,2,3)
