April 11, 2003

Columbia, S.C. – No. 13 South Carolina fell to second-ranked Florida, 5-1, at the Sam Daniel Tennis Facility. The loss ends the Gamecocks 11-match home win streak and puts USC’s overall record at 17-5 overall and 5-5 in the SEC. Carolina hosts No. 8 Vanderbilt on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Florida gained the doubles point despite an upset victory by USC’s No. 1 tandem of Tom Eklund and Angelo Niculescu. The duo topped the nation’s No. 17 doubles team of Chris McDonald and Hamid Mirzadeh, 8-6.

In singles play, Ben Atkinson ran his personal win streak to five matches with a straight-set win at No. 6. The sophomore posted a 6-4, 6-2 victory Trey Johnson for his team-leading 16th dual match victory of the season.

Marcus Westman won his match at No. 3 singles, defeating 101st-ranked Olivier Levant, 2-6, 6-4, 3-2 (ret.). It marked Westman’s fifth-straight match victory.

The Gamecocks conclude their regular season against the eighth-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday at 1 p.m. USC’s trio of seniors, Niculescu, Seth Rose and Nasir Sherazi will be honored during the senior day match at the Sam Daniel Tennis Center.

No. 2 Florida (20-3, 11-0) 5, No. 13 SOUTH CAROLINA (17-5, 5-5) 2

Doubles
No. 1: Tom Eklund/Angelo Niculescu (USC) def. #17 Hamid Mirzadeh/Chris McDonald (UF), 8-6
No. 2: #39 Olivier Levant/Eleazar Magallan (UF) def. Seth Rose/Carl Wermee (USC), 8-2
No. 3: #56 Matt Behrmann/Troy Hahn (UF) def. Marcus Westman/Geraldo Knorr (USC), 8-4

Singles
No. 1: #18 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF) def. #47 Seth Rose (USC), 6-1, 6-3
No. 2: Troy Hahn (UF) def. #56 Angelo Niculescu (USC), 3-6, 6-0, 2-0 (retired)
No. 3: Marcus Westman (USC) def. #101 Olivier Levant (UF), 2-6, 6-4, 3-2 (retired)
No. 4: Matt Behrmann (UF) def. Carl Wermee (USC), 6-4, 6-1
No. 5: Eleazar Magallan (UF) def. Tom Eklund (USC), 6-2, 6-3
No. 6: Ben Atkinson (USC) def. Trey Johnson (UF), 6-4, 6-2