Whitner Powers Men's Tennis Past No. 13 Florida
Jan. 29, 2008
The No. 36 University of Miami men’s tennis team upset No. 13 University of Florida, 4-3, Tuesday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in a match-up of two ranked, in-state foes.
With the score tied 3-3, the match came down to the battle at the No. 6 position with UM’s J.C. Whitner facing UF’s Erik Corace. Whitner won the first set, 7-6, before Corace took the second, 6-1. Whitner would take an early 2-1 lead in the third set and would never look back, pulling away for the 7-6, 1-6, 6-3 win.
“That was a huge win for this program,” said Miami head coach Mario Rincon. “I’m so proud of our players, our coaches and our fans for all of their support.
“JC decided the match in a big fashion. He has improved so much since last year, and I knew that sooner or later, he would come through for us in a huge way. This win is certainly gratifying, however we must continue to improve and develop our players.”
The `Canes improve to 3-0 with the win while the Gators fall to 1-1 on the season.
The Hurricanes took the early 1-0 lead after the claiming the doubles point by virtue of wins at the No. 1 and 2 spots. Miami’s No. 30 tandem of All-American Daniel Vallverdu and Carl Sundberg won the No. 1 doubles match, 8-6, to finish doubles play first. The Gators came back with an 8-4 win at No. 3. But the Hurricanes’ 18th-ranked duo of Vivek Subramanian and David Rosenfeld battled for the doubles point-clinching 9-7 victory at the No. 2 position.
Florida came back strong in singles play, taking the 2-1 advantage with wins at both No. 5 and No. 3. Vallverdu, ranked seventh in the nation in singles play, knotted the team score at 2-all with a dominating straight-sets win over UF’s eighth-ranked Greg Ouellette.
Miami took the 3-2 lead on another straight-sets singles win, as the 97th-ranked Rosenfeld won his second straight match of the spring season.
After a Gator victory at No. 4, tying the team score at 3-3, Whitner won the deciding singles match at No. 6 to give the Hurricanes their third-straight win of the spring season.
Miami men’s tennis hits the road for its next three matches, beginning with a Feb. 1 match at No. 3 Ohio State. Play will begin at 6 p.m.
No. 36 Miami 4, No. 13 Florida 3
Singles
1. No. 7 Daniel Vallverdu (UM) def. No. 8 Greg Ouellette (UF), 6-4, 6-2
2. No. 97 David Rosenfeld (UM) def. No. 57 Alex Lacriox (UF), 6-3, 6-4
3. No. 62 Nestor Briceno (UF) def. Carl Sundberg (UM), 6-3, 6-2
4. Jeff Dadamo (UF) def. Vivek Subramanian (UM), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Tyler Hochwalt (UF) def. Keith Crowley (UM), 6-1, 6-1
6. JC Whitner (UM) def. Erik Corace (UF), 7-6, 1-6, 6-3
Order of Finish: 5, 3, 1, 2, 4, 6*
Doubles
1. No. 30 Daniel Vallverdu/Carl Sundberg (UM) def. Tyler Hochwalt/Jeff Dadamo, 8-6
2. No. 18 Vivek Subramanian/David Rosenfeld (UM) def. Greg Ouellette/Johnny Hamiu (UF), 9-7
3. Nestor Briceno/Alex Lacroix (UF) def. Keith Crowley/Hector Nieto (UM), 8-4
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2*
