Men's tennis gets extra point in 5-0 sweep

The Florida men's tennis team ran up the score. Well, not on purpose.

The Gators opened the NCAA Tournament with a first-round shutout of Navy on Saturday morning at Linder Stadium. However, this wasn't a 4-0 shutout. Due to an unusual circumstance, the Gators were able to roll Navy by a score of 5-0.

"It was 5-0 and you're supposed to stop at four," Florida's Nestor Briceno said. "I thought that was pretty cool."

The Gators' extra point came courtesy of some impeccable timing. Florida was leading 3-0 when Briceno and Tyler Hochwalt each played a match point simultaneously. Hochwalt won his point on court five to clinch the decisive fourth point for Florida.

However, the ball was already in play on Briceno's court at the time the match was clinched. He finished the point, which he won, giving Florida a fifth point.

In NCAA Tournament play, remaining matches are suspended when the first team reaches four points. Points that are in play when the match is clinched, however, are allowed to be finished.

"They both had balls in play and we got to five," Gator coach Andy Jackson said. "They both wanted it, so I'm happy for them."

The Gators advanced to today's second round where they will meet No. 19 Miami at 1 p.m. The Hurricanes defeated South Florida, 4-2, later Saturday afternoon in a marathon match that lasted close to four hours.

Florida will certainly be eager to get another shot at the Hurricanes. Florida lost to Miami 4-3 on Jan. 29 in Coral Gables. It was a match the Gators have not forgotten.

"They played well and had a very good crowd that got after us a little bit," Jackson said. "We choked a little bit to lose it."

The Gators didn't choke Saturday. But Florida did have to fight off a serious charge from Navy to capture the doubles point.

Florida and Navy split on doubles courts one and two. That sent all the attention to court three where Florida's Geoffrey Barton and Hochwalt were tied, 6-6, with Navy's Jason Hill and Nick Birger.

Barton and Hochwalt broke serve to go ahead 7-6. They finished off the match with an 8-6 victory to put the Gators ahead 1-0 heading into singles play.

"They were tough in doubles," said Briceno, who lost 8-3 at No. 2 doubles. "I think we underestimated them in doubles."

Florida, however, dominated Navy in singles.

"We had high respect for them," Briceno said. "But after the fight they put up in doubles it was at a whole new level. We came out firing in singles and I think it showed in the scores."

The Gators got a dominating performance from SEC player of the year Greg Ouellette at No. 1 singles. Ouellette defeated Nate Helms, 6-0, 6-0, in 50 minutes. Freshman Alex Lacroix beat Ramsey Lemaich, 6-0, 6-3 on court three. That put Florida up 3-0 and set up the Gators' furious finish.

The crowd of 285 stood and cheered as Hochwalt and Briceno each played match points at the same time. Hochwalt won his match over Owen Bullard, 6-1, 6-2. Briceno continued to play his point, which he won for a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Hill.

The two Gators each acknowledged they were aware of the situation.

"I noticed he was up 5-0 or something when I was up 5-2 when I was serving," Hochwalt said. "I thought maybe I could rush it a little more than him."

Briceno was keeping an eye on court five himself.

"I was paying attention to Tyler," Briceno said. "But I just wanted to get the win. That's all I cared about."