Winning on the road in a hostile environment is hard enough.
Defeating a top-five team while playing five freshmen and then following it up with a win at home against another ranked opponent is a little more difficult.
The UF men's tennis team kept its Southeastern Conference hopes alive with wins against No. 5 Mississippi on Friday and No. 47 Mississippi State on Sunday.
The No. 18 Gators defeated the Rebels (13-4, 4-2 SEC) 5-2 in Oxford, where Mississippi had lost just twice in its last 50 regular-season matches, and then took care of the Bulldogs (8-6, 2-4 SEC) 5-2 at home.
"What stood out most (on Sunday) was how difficult it is to back up big victories with disciplined effort," UF coach Andy Jackson said. "We had a team that was able to do it, and that means as much to me as the result on Friday."
With the wins, UF (10-4, 5-1 SEC) remains one match behind Georgia for first place in the conference standings.
The Gators started slow against the Rebels on Friday.
They lost all three doubles matches by the same 8-4 score.
But for the second time this season, UF was able to rebound from dropping the doubles point by winning five of six singles courts.
Senior Greg Ouellette, No. 3 nationally, defeated the No. 16 player in the nation handily, 6-2, 6-2, to get UF on the scoreboard.
Then with UF down 2-1, three Gators freshmen stepped up.
Freshman Tyler Hochwalt moved to 13-1 in his singles career with a 6-3, 6-3 win against the Rebels followed by a 6-3, 6-4 victory on Sunday.
"(I'm) fairly confident," Hochwalt said. "I've been on a roll here lately, and I'm just trying to go out there and take it one match at a time."
Freshman Alex Lacroix knocked off the No. 32 player in the nation, his highest-ranked win so far, 7-6, 6-2, and gave UF a 3-2 lead against the Rebels.
Freshman Erik Corace won two matches over the weekend, including his 6-1, 7-6 (6) victory against Mississippi that clinched the match for UF. He entered the weekend with a 1-2 singles record on the year.
On Sunday, the Gators won two of three doubles courts to seal the point and then took the first four singles courts in straight sets to clinch the dual match victory against the Bulldogs.
"I'm not surprised that [the freshmen have] progressed this fast," Jackson said. "I mean, I'm surprised that they can beat Tennessee, Ole Miss on the road and Mississippi State in one week. I think that would be unrealistic for me to tell the guys to do that at the beginning of the year."
The No. 4 UF women's tennis team won its eighth and ninth matches in a row on Friday and Sunday.
The Gators (12-1, 6-0 SEC) shook off some rust in a 6-1 victory against Mississippi at home before winning at No. 59 Mississippi State 7-0.
