The Gators showed up at 8:30 a.m. Saturday for their 10 a.m. match against Furman. At 8:15 p.m., after a 10-hour rain delay, the two teams finally squared off in the opening match of ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
It’s a busy weekend for tennis in Gainesville.
The UF women’s tennis team improved its record to 2-0 when it defeated UCF on Wednesday.
When Florida takes on UCF today at 5 p.m., two freshmen will be leading the charge for the Gators.
After opening it dual match season with an impressive shutout victory at home over UCF on Friday, the Gators men’s tennis team were dealt its first loss Sunday on the road against No. 6 Baylor.
The Gators men’s tennis team opens its spring dual match season against in-state competition at home and then hit the road for an early season out-of-conference.
Antoine Benneteau and Alexandre Lacroix will enter the dual match season on a high note.
Despite enjoying only marginal success in the final grand slam event of the fall season, the Florida coaches have to be pleased with how the fall season went as a whole.
After a busy day of action at the ITA Intercollegiate Indoor Championships cut the field in half, two of the three UF entrants are still standing.
Allie Will, Alex Lacroix and Antoine Benneteau will have to compete not only with 32 of the nation's best players but also with an unfamiliar set of elements at the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships this weekend.
After coming up just short in the first leg of collegiate tennis' Grand Slam two weeks ago, freshman Allie Will and the doubles team of Antoine Benneteau and Alex Lacroix have earned themselves a shot at redemption by winning the ITA Southeast Regional Championships, which serve as a feeder into the Grand Slam's second event.
After beginning ITA Regional Championship play Friday with a combined 15 entrants, Allie Will on the women's side and the doubles team of Alex Lacroix and Antoine Benneteau on the men's have traversed difficult fields and still have a shot to win titles Monday.
The Florida men's and women's tennis teams will be returning to action today at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships, which will be held in Athens, Ga., for the men and Atlanta for the women.
Despite extremely impressive starts, none of the Gators were able to traverse the highly competitive fields and win a championship at the ITA All-American tournaments.
Despite having to face three ranked opponents in the previous two days, UF freshmen Allie Will and Lauren Embree looked as strong as ever in first-round wins at the ITA All American Championships.
While Johnny Hamui's attempt to get a second Gator into the men's main draw of the ITA All American Championships came to an unsuccessful end on Tuesday, freshman Lauren Embree was dominant in her first and second round of qualifying and still has a shot at joining Marrit Boonstra in the women's draw.
With injuries and inconsistency threatening to limit the number of UF entrants into the ITA All-American Tennis Championships to just one, junior Johnny Hamui is trying to make that two.
The 2009 Gator Invitational, held this past weekend at the Ring Tennis Complex, gave the UF men's tennis team an opportunity to experiment with a variety of lineups and gave the women's team an opportunity to showcase their excellence.
The UF men's tennis team will open its fall season this weekend with the Gator Invitational at Linder Stadium in Gainesville.
ALLIGATOR STAFF REPORT
Solutions by The State News
