"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
When the No. 19 UF men's tennis team needed a win to get out of a
midseason slump, the Gators managed to dig deep in a hostile
environment.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Florida (12-5, 5-1) left Starkville, Miss., Saturday evening with a
tough 4-3 win against Mississippi State (9-6, 4-2).
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
The much-needed conference win ended the Gators’ two-match losing
streak and kept coach Andy Jackson undefeated against his old
team.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
"We are very excited to come out with a win in a hostile
environment and in a high level match," Jackson said. "We sort of
saw the same thing last weekend and fell short, but today we pulled
through on the road."
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Jackson, who coached at Mississippi State for 17 years, found
relief in an all-too-familiar spot on Saturday.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
After the Gators claimed the doubles point and then went back and
forth with the Bulldogs in singles, the score was knotted at 3-3,
and the outcome once again rested on the shoulders of senior star
Alexandre Lacroix.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
While Lacroix hasn't always come through for the Gators in the
crunch, he stepped up his intensity when it mattered most Saturday,
coming away with a third-set tiebreaker win against No. 84 Artem
Ilyushin.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Lacroix, ranked No. 6 in the ITA singles rankings, warded off a
comeback attempt by Ilyushin and won 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5).
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
"We were more focused and tougher today, and I think that comes
with playing on the road," Jackson said. "We played right at the
end of those matches. Last week we thought they would give it to us
but today we went out there and took it."
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Ilyushin was one of three ranked singles players the Bulldogs
featured, but Jackson said Mississippi State played its lineup in a
different way that proved advantageous for the Bulldogs.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
While most teams opt to have their highest-ranked singles players
competing at the top of the lineup, the Bulldogs spread their
ranked players throughout the courts.
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">"I
thought they still played their lineup fair, and it just goes to
show that they're a very, very deep team," Jackson said. "Not all
of their players at the top are ranked, but they deserve to be,
they're very under-ranked as a team."
"margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman;">
Jackson went as far as to say Mississippi State is on the same
level as Ole Miss, who came to Gainesville last weekend and
delivered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to the Gators.
