April 18, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In cold and windy conditions at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center on the University of Arkansas’s campus, the South Carolina men’s tennis team suffered a 4-0 setback to 12th-ranked Florida in its quarterfinal match of the 2008 SEC Championship. With the loss, Carolina falls to 11-13 for the year and is eliminated from the tournament. Florida improves to 14-6.
Florida earned the doubles point and took a 1-0 overall match victory into singles play. The 41st-ranked team of Greg Ouellette and Jeff Dadamo gave UF the advantage, defeating Carolina’s Pedro Campos and Johannes Pulsfort on court one, 8-3. South Carolina battled early in the match on court three, but UF’s Geoffrey Barton and Tyler Hochwalt defeated the Carolina duo of Yevgeny Supeko and Thomas Stoddard, 8-4, to clinch the point. Court two was suspended, however, USC’s Diego Cubas and Ivan Cressoni and UF’s Nestor Briceno and Alex Lacroix played to a 7-7 tie when the match was halted.
Florida dominated early in singles play, winning in five of six first sets. The Gators extended their lead with a victory on court two, as Briceno collected a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Cubas. Florida’s third point of the match came on court three. Campos suffered a 6-1 loss in the opening set to UF’s Alex Lacroix, however, he led early in the second set and pulled within one at 5-4, but Lacroix clinched the point with a 6-4 second-set win.
Leading 3-0, the Gators clinched the match with a victory on court four. Tyler Hochwalt defeated Johannes Pulsfort in a straight set, 6-3, 6-2, victory to earn the deciding point for the Gators.
Complete results are listed below.
No. 12 Florida 4, No. 57 South Carolina 0
Singles:
1. Yevgeny Supeko (USC) vs. Greg Ouellette (UF), match tied at 6-3, 1-6, dnf.
2. Nestor Briceno (UF) def. Diego Cubas (USC), 6-2, 6-0
3. Alex Lacroix (UF) def. Pedro Campos (USC), 6-1, 6-4
4. Tyler Hochwalt (UF) def. Johannes Pulsfort (USC), 6-3, 6-2
5. Jaime Cuellar (USC) vs. Johnny Hamui (UF) Florida led 6-2, 4-2, dnf.
6. Erik Corace (UF) vs. Ivan Cressoni (USC) Florida led 6-3, 3-1, dnf.
Order of finish: 2, 3, 4
Doubles:
1. No. 41 Ouellette/Dadamo (UF) def. Campos/Pulsfort (USC), 8-3
2. Cubas/Cressoni (USC) vs. Briceno/Lacroix (UF), 7-7, dnf.
3. Barton/Hochwalt (UF) def. Stoddard/Supeko (USC), 8-4
Order of finish: 1, 3,
