Jan. 22, 2010
By Doug Richards
UCFAthletics.com
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Playing its season opener against one of the nation's premier teams, the UCF men's tennis squad dropped a 7-0 match at No. 7 Florida Friday. The Knights took a win at No. 3 doubles at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex, but the Gators swept in singles action.
Facing Billy Federhofer and Bob Van Overbeek at the third spot, senior Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) and sophomore Claudio Romano (Valencia, Venezuela) rolled to an 8-3 victory. The hosts took wins at the other two positions, including No. 1 where the 10th-ranked duo of Antoine Benneteau and Alexandre Lacroix topped UCF's 21st-ranked tandem of senior Marc Rocafort (Barcelona, Spain) and junior Blaze Schwartz (Pensacola, Fla.), 8-2.
In singles, Sakey and senior Johan Beigart (Vaxjo, Sweden) battled their opponents before falling. At No. 3, Overbeek got past Sakey (7-5, 6-2) and Beigart fell to Joey Burkhardt, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 4.
"Claudio and Brock played a fine doubles match at 3, but we were not able to capture the net early at 1 and 2 doubles and Florida did a great job of keeping the momentum," UCF head coach Bobby Cashman said. "During singles we were in the matches with many chances to take control at 3, 4 and 6, but they showed that they are the No. 11 team in the nation with room to move up. We learned a lot today and that will shape our preparation over the next two weeks as we prepare for Troy."
UCF will have a long layoff before its next match. The Knights are slated to make their home debut on Feb. 5, hosting Troy at the UCF Tennis Complex.
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No. 11 Florida 7, UCF 0
Singles competition
1. (7) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. Marc Rocafort (UCF) 6-0, 6-3
2. Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) def. Claudio Romano (UCF) 6-0, 6-2
3. Bob Van Overbeek (UF) def. Brock Sakey (UCF) 7-5, 6-2
4. Joey Burkhardt (UF) def. Johan Beigart (UCF) 6-4, 6-3
5. Antoine Benneteau (UF) def. Mario Samson (UCF) 6-1, 6-1
6. Billy Federhofer (UF) def. Blaze Schwartz (UCF) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. (10) Benneteau/Lacroix (UCF) def. (21) Rocafort/Schwartz (UCF) 8-2
2. Bangoura/Burkhardt (UF) def. Beigart/Delinks (UCF) 8-2
3. Romano/Sakey (UCF) def. Federhofer/Van Overbeek (UF) 8-3