The Gators tennis teams finished the regular season on a high note with two wins over South Carolina on Saturday.
The No. 3 women’s squad (21-2, 11-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated No. 18 South Carolina (14-7, 7-4 SEC) 4-0 in Columbia, S.C., to end conference play undefeated and earn the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament.
“To finish 11-0 in our league is something to cherish because our league is second to none,” UF women’s coach Roland Thornqvist said.
Freshman Allie Will and senior Marrit Boonstra trailed their doubles match 7-5 on court No. 1, but came back strong in singles play to help Florida secure the win.
No. 7 Will defeated No. 93 Dijana Stojic 6-4, 6-1 to finish the regular season undefeated in dual match singles play.
No. 75 Boonstra provided the clinching victory on court No. 3 with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 110 Anya Morgina.
In Gainesville, the upperclassmen led the way in the 6-1 win for the No. 6 men’s team (17-3, 9-1 SEC) on senior day.
Senior Daniel Cash and freshman Bob Van Overbeek provided the clinching doubles-point win on court No. 3 with a 9-7 victory over Alexander Kostanov and Johannes Pulsfort
“It’s good to win on senior day,” Cash said. “It would have been a bummer to lose. A win is a win.”
The match against South Carolina fell in between a weekend of playing two top-10 teams (Georgia and Tennessee) and the upcoming SEC tournament.
Senior Antoine Benneteau appeared focused and prepared to go out with a win on senior day.
Following doubles competition, in which he and junior Alexandre Lacroix were the first to finish, Benneteau was the first to get off the court in singles play with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ivan Cressoni.
Three of Benneteau’s previous four wins had come in matches that went to a third set.
“It’s good (to win in two sets),” Benneteau said. “It gives the team a little bit of energy. We respected South Carolina a lot before. Those guys are very talented.”
