May 10, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After holding off Navy to win the doubles point, the ninth-ranked Florida tennis team won four singles match in straight sets to post a 5-0 victory over the Mids, Saturday morning at Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla., during the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Navy, the two-time Patriot League champion, sees its season come to an end with a 20-9 record, while Florida improves to 16-7 on the year and advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where it will face either Miami (Fla.) or South Florida.

The Mids had a great opportunity to put the first point of the day on the board in doubles, but in the end Navy could not convert on its opportunity.

The Gators won the first completed doubles match at the No. 2 flight. Navy's duo of Alex James and Ramsey Lemaich and Florida's team of Nestor Briceno and Alex Lacroix were tied at 3-3 before the Gators closed out the match by winning the next five games to win by the score of 8-3.

Navy tied the doubles portion of the match at one point apiece, however, as Owen Bullard and Nate Nelms won an 8-5 decision over Florida's Jeff Dadamo and Greg Ouellette. There were no breaks of serve until the Mids recorded one to take a 6-4 lead late in the contest. Nelms held serve to give Navy a 7-4 lead before the Gators duo, the 30th ranked doubles team in the country, held serve to narrow the margin down to 7-5. Bullard then stepped to the service line and held to give the Mids, who were playing as a team for the first time this season due to an injury this week to Nelms' normal partner, Johnny Waters, an impressive 8-5 win.

"Nate did an awesome job of leading Owen on the court," said Navy head coach John Officer. "Owen is very talented and we knew we had a good doubles player waiting in the wings all season. He showed no nerves in a very hostile environment against the No. 9 doubles team in the country."

That left the No. 3 match between Navy's Nick Birger and Jason Hill and Florida's Geoffrey Barton and Tyler Hochwalt to decide the doubles point. Everyone held serve until Birger toed the line with the score tied 6-6. Navy held a 30-love lead but back-to-back points by the Gators tied the score at 30-30. A Navy point gave the Mids a 40-30 lead but Navy could not capitalize on the advantage and the teams went back to deuce. Florida quickly scored the next two points to win the game and take a 7-6 lead.

Hochwalt's serve allowed the Gators to take a 40-15 lead in the ensuing game, but the Mids wiped out the two match points to send the game to deuce. Florida then had its third match point of the game, which again was erased by Navy. A long rally gave the Gators another match point, which they converted to win the match, 8-6, and the doubles point.

"Our No. 3 team was 22-4 on the year coming into today and we have a lot of confidence in Nick and Jason," said Officer. "It's a shame they couldn't finish things today because they have all season. Our doubles play has been our strength throughout the year, and it was again today."

Between the emotion of losing the doubles point, having five of the six players move up a spot in the singles lineup due to the injury to Waters and facing three nationally-ranked players from Florida, Navy struggled in the singles portion of the match.

Nelms lost a 6-0, 6-0 decision to Greg Oullette at No. 1 singles, Lemaich lost a 6-0, 6-3 match to Lacroix at No. 3, Bullard lost a 6-1, 6-2 match to Hochwalt at No. 5 and Hill dropped a 6-2, 6-0 contest to Briceno at No. 2.

Oullette is the nation's second-ranked singles player, Briceno is ranked 52nd and Lacroix is ranked 66th.

"Florida just had too much firepower over us in the singles," said Officer. "Our guys did everything they could and kept fighting until the end."

This was Navy's second-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament after an eight-year gap. Navy only loses Alex James from its starting lineup, who has played No. 5 singles all season.

"I feel we are in very good shape," said Officer of the Navy program. "We only lose Alex and we have three top-100 ranked players in the country coming in. The next step for our program is to keeping winning Patriot League titles and see if we can make a little more inroads in the NCAA Tournament. We feel good about going toe-to-toe with Florida in doubles."

Florida (16-7) def. Navy (20-9), 5-0
Doubles - Florida wins the doubles point (Match Finish Order: 2-1-3)
1 - Bullard / Nelms (N) def. Dadamo / Ouellette (30), 8-5
2 - Briceno / Lacroix (F) def. James / Lemaich, 8-3
3 - Geoffrey Barton / Hochwalt (F) def. Nick Birger / Hill, 8-6

Singles (Match Finish Order: 1-3-5-2)
1 - Greg Oullette (2) (F) def. Nate Nelms, 6-0, 6-0
2 - Nestor Briceno (52) (F) def. Jason Hill, 6-2, 6-0
3 - Alex Lacroix (66) (F) led Ramsey Lemaich, 6-0, 6-3
4 - Jeff Dadamo (F) led Alex James, 6-3, 4-1
5 - Tyler Hochwalt (F) def. Owen Bullard, 6-1, 6-2
6 - Erik Corac (F) led Joe Wiggins, 6-0, 5-2