No.
13 Alabama Men’s Tennis
Edged by No. 10 Florida 4-3
Crimson Tide now Awaits
Placement in the 2009 NCAA
Tournament
AUBURN,
Ala. – The 13th-ranked
Alabama men’s tennis team
(20-7) suffered a
heartbreaking 4-3 loss
Friday in the quarterfinals
of the SEC Tournament to No.
10 Florida (17-7) at the
Yarbrough Tennis Center. The
Crimson Tide jumped out to
an early 3-0 lead in the
match, but the Gators were
able to win the final four
points en route to the
victory.
“I’m
proud of the effort and our
team’s fight today,” said
head coach Billy Pate. “We
really had Florida on the
ropes and certainly put
ourselves in position to win
the match. Unfortunately, we
just couldn’t quite get that
fourth point.”
The
Tide captured the doubles
point to gain an early
advantage with wins on court
two and three. First off was
the freshman duo of Ricky
Doverspike and Michael
Thompson winning 8-4 over
Gator sophomore Alex Lacroix
and freshman Carlos Gonzalez
De Cueto on court three.
Florida grabbed an early
break to take the 2-0 lead,
but Doverspike and Thompson
quickly got the match back
on serve. The score stayed
close until late when the
Alabama tandem pulled away
easily. Securing the doubles
point would be senior Billy
Mertz and junior Saketh
Myneni at No. 2 rebounding
from a first-round loss to
Vanderbilt on Thursday. The
Tide pair earned a break
early and another midway
through the set, but Gator
sophomores Jeff Dadamo and
Johnny Hamui came back on
both occasions. Mertz and
Myneni put together a pair
of solid games to close out
the match with an 8-6
victory.
In
singles, it would be 22nd-ranked
Myneni claiming the first
point for Alabama with a win
at the No. 1 position over
21st-ranked De
Cueto. The Alabama netter
won the final two games of
the first set to pull away
6-4 and followed that up
with a dominant run in the
second. Myneni led 5-0
before giving up a single
game to De Cueto. Myneni
would take the match in the
next game winning 6-1.
Capturing the Tide’s third
point of the afternoon was
Buikema who also tallied a
score of 6-4, 6-1 to take
down Benneteau at No. 3. The
match was nearly identical
to that on court one except
Benneteau was able to grab
his lone point in the second
at the beginning of the set.
The
Gators kept their hopes
alive with three consecutive
wins beginning at the No. 5
spot with Hamui grabbing a
6-4, 6-3 decision over
Mertz. Dadamo followed that
up with a 7-5, 6-3 win over
Alabama senior Michael Jung
on court six. Next off was
the matchup at No. 4 where
Burkhardt picked up a 7-5,
6-1 win over Thompson to tie
the dual match at 3-3.
All
eyes turned to the contest
on court two that featured a
pair of ranked opponents in
No. 32 Lacroix and No. 87
Thibaudeau. The first set
went to Lacroix 6-4 and the
second in favor of
Thibaudeau 6-4 forcing a
decisive third to determine
the dual match winner. Both
held serve until Lacroix was
able to steal a break going
up 4-2. Thibaudeau
immediately broke back in
the next game, but yet
again, Lacroix would earn a
break setting himself up to
serve for the match. He did
just that in the next game
to take the third by a score
of 6-3.
“Despite the outcome, our
team is playing great tennis
right now and peaking for
the NCAA Tournament,” added
Pate. “We’re hopeful of
getting the chance to host
an NCAA Regional at home.”
Alabama
now awaits its placement in
the NCAA Tournament which
will be announced Tuesday,
April 28.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. No.
26 Buikema/Thibaudeau (UA)
vs. Benneteau/Burkhardt (UF)
7-5, unf.
2.
Mertz/Myneni (UA) def.
Dadamo/Hamui (UF) 8-6
3.
Doverspike/Thompson (UA)
def. Lacroix/De Cueto (UF)
8-4
Order of Finish: 3,2
Singles
1. No.
22 Saketh Myneni (UA) def.
No. 21 Carlos De Cueto (UF)
6-4, 6-1
2. No.
32 Alex Lacroix (UF) def.
No. 87 Mathieu Thibaudeau
(UA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
3. Dan
Buikema (UA) def. Antoine
Benneteau (UF) 6-4, 6-1
4.
Joseph Burkhardt (UF) def.
Michael Thompson (UA) 7-5,
6-1
5.
Johnny Hamui (UF) def. Billy
Mertz (UA) 6-4, 6-3
6. Jeff
Dadamo (UF) def. Michael
Jung (UA) 7-5, 6-3
Order of Finish:
1,3,5,6,4,2*
