Expectations were high when Bob Van Overbeek, Sekou Bangoura, Jr., and Nassim Slilam joined the Gators men’s tennis team.
“Our incoming freshmen this spring make a big difference in our expectations,” UF coach Andy Jackson said before the season.
The team set goals before the year: win the Southeastern Conference East, win the SEC Tournament and win the NCAA Tournament.
Instead of being overwhelmed by the pressure of being ranked No. 11, the freshmen bought into the championship expectations for the 2010 season.
“They’re the kind of guys who probably saw the No. 11 ranking and said, ‘There are 10 teams better than us?’” Jackson said.
In the early ITA polls, the SEC had the most teams in the top-25. Conference play did not begin until March.
For the Gators to find out if 10 teams deserved to be ranked higher than they were, they needed to accomplish a goal that preceded the other three: make it to the ITA tournament in Charlottesville, Va.
UF was one of 15 schools to host ITA Kick-Off Weekend in January. At each site, four schools would compete in a weekend tournament with the 18 winners squaring off in Charlottesville two weeks later.
To qualify for Charlottesville, UF defeated then-unranked and current-No. 24 Georgia Tech 7-0.
The trip to Virginia brought the team together. An early loss was avenged and a good-natured prank amused teammates and coaches alike.
An early opportunity for revenge
Looking back on the regular season, Van Overbeek and Bangoura — “Kou-Kou” as he’s been nicknamed by Gators women’s tennis freshman Lauren Embree — bring up one opponent more than the others: Baylor.
The second dual match of their collegiate careers meant a trip to Waco, Tex., on Jan. 24 to face the then-No. 6 team in the country on its home court.
“We were nervous as hell,” Van Overbeek said.
The result was a 5-2 loss for Florida. Van Overbeek, Bangoura and Slilam all lost their matches in straight sets.
On Feb. 12, Florida and the freshmen had the opportunity to avenge their loss.
Two of the first-year players made sure UF came out on the winning side of the rematch.
In Waco, Bangoura lost 6-4, 6-4 on the No. 3 court to Attila Bucko. In Charlottesville, he was moved to the No. 5 spot for the first time all season.
It proved to be a good fit as Bangoura defeated Roberto Maytin 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
“Baylor was definitely a turning point for us,” Bangoura said.
At the No. 6 position, Slilam had the opportunity to avenge his loss 6-4, 6-0 in Waco to Maros Horny. In Charlottesville, he defeated Horny 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 for the clinching win.
Slilam continued to shine in the tournament, earning a spot on the all-tournament team.
But his teammates are quick to recall a less flattering account of Slilam’s trip to Virgina.
Slilam’s roommate for the trip to Virginia was North Miami native Billy Federhofer, a freshman. When a fire alarm went off in the hotel, Federhofer saw an opportunity to have some fun with the French-speaker in his room.
“The fire alarm goes off in the hotel right after Nass got out of the shower,” Van Overbeek retells the story. “Billy says to him ‘Nass! Fire! We have to go!’ Most of us just kind of casually made our way down to the lobby. Nass is the first one of us down to this crowded lobby full of people. He’s in just a towel — no clothes on — all these people looking at him. Coach (Jackson) walked up to him, paused and said ‘I like it Nass.’”
Slilam’s adjustment
At this point in the season, Slilam is past the language and culture barrier that had him race for the hotel lobby in a towel.
Slilam insists “my English is terrible,” but Van Overbeek, Bangoura and others are now able to communicate with him in English and relate to him off the court.
“When I first got here, I naturally hung out with (fellow Frenchmen) Alex (Lacroix) and Antoine (Benneteau),” Slilam said. “Now, I hang out with everybody.”
Slilam’s transition from Paris to UF has been aided by being surrounded with people who knew what he was going through. Besides team leaders Lacroix and Benneteau, assistant coach Jeremy Bayon, who recruited Slilam, also made the adjustment to life at a SEC university (Mississippi State) as a French-speaking tennis player. Slilam currently dates a fellow international student-athlete: Gators women’s tennis senior Marrit Boonstra (The Netherlands).
Stability in the toughest conference
On the court, Slilam has led the way for his fellow first-year Gators.
At that important match in Charlottesville against Baylor, Jackson placed Van Overbeek and Bangoura at Nos. 4 and 5 in singles. The rest of the season, the trio of Van Overbeek, Bangoura and Slilam would dominate from Nos. 4-6. Van Overbeek and Bangoura have earned a combined five SEC Freshman of the Week honors after the Baylor match.
In SEC play, the three went 23-4, including seven victory-clinching wins.
One of the most important clinching wins of the season came April 11 against rival Georgia.
Florida led the then-No. 8 Bulldogs 3-2 as Van Overbeek and Benneteau were in tight matches that could have gone either way.
The team gathered near court No. 4 to cheer on Van Overbeek in the third set. Slilam frequently motioned to the crowd to make noise and cheer for the freshman.
When Van Overbeek took the set 6-4 to clinch the win over UGA, he was mobbed by Slilam and the rest of the team.
“At this point in the season, we don’t like to think of the team as ‘French guys’ and ‘in-state guys,’” Jackson said. “We like to see them all as Gators.”
This group of Gators heads to Lexington, Ky., as the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament with hopes of a rematch against Tennessee, their lone conference loss. The first-year players’ contributions mean two of three goals for the season are still obtainable: SEC Tournament champions and NCAA champions. Having risen five spots since the first poll in January with a chance to bring some hardware back to Gainesville, these three first-year contributors have exceeded expectations.
