FOUR BITS: Gators take home four wins Friday

1 » After losing its opening match, the No. 4 Florida Gators gymnastics team (2-1, 2-0 SEC) won its second straight contest of the season Friday. Florida traveled to face the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats (3-2, 1-2 SEC) in Lexington, KY, and took home a 196.05-195.35 victory at Memorial Coliseum. Freshman sensation Ashanée Dickerson won her third-straight all-around competition with a total of 39.25. Overall, the Gators finished the day with at least a share of four of five event titles. Florida continues its streak of facing ranked SEC opponents when it hosts the No. 16 LSU Tigers on Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. for the fourth annual Gators Link to Pink meet in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center to raise awareness about breast cancer.

Learn about three more big Gators victories, injury updates on a football and basketball player and David Lee’s season-high night after the jump…

2 » The No. 6/7 men’s (8-0, 3-0 SEC) and women’s (9-2, 3-1 SEC) swimming and diving teams swept the No. 5/8 Auburn Tigers squads on Senior Day in the O’Connell Center Friday, with the men winning 162-138 and the women dominating 185-115. In all, the Gators won nine of 16 men’s races and 10 of 16 women’s events. Omar Pinzon led the way for the men with three individual event victories in the 100 back (47.45), 200 back (1:42.80) and 200 individual medley (1:47.91), while junior Conor Dwyer won the 200 free (1:35.36), 500 free (4:20.59) and the 400 free relay as the anchor with a 42.75 split. Florida finishes out their dual meet schedule against the Tennessee Volunteers on Jan. 29 (women) and Jan. 30 (men) on the road in Knoxville, TN.

3 » Continuing the Gators’ success on Friday was the No. 11 men’s tennis team, which pulled out a 7-0 victory against the Central Florida Knights in its first head-to-head of the dual match season. Hosting UCF at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex, Florida swept the match by winning all six singles competitions in straight sets. Junior Alexandre Lacroix, the No. 7 player in the nation, led the way for the Gators with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Marc Rocafort. His doubles mate Antoine Benneteau followed suit with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. As a team, the No. 10 pair of Lacroix and Benneteau beat No. 21 Rocafort and Claudio Romano 8-2. Florida’s next match is scheduled for Sunday against the No. 6 Baylor Bears on the road in Waco, TX.

4 » Injury Updates: Gators freshman safety-turning-linebacker Dee Finley was up in Philadelphia, PA, Friday undergoing surgery on a sports hernia. After the operation was finished, Finley tweeted that “surgery went great.” News is worse for Florida basketball sophomore center Kenny Kadji, who is now being deemed out for the season with back issues. Kadji was receiving treatment and injections with hopes he would be able to return to the hardwood, but he will instead have season-ending back surgery. OGGOA hopes that Finley and Kadji will both have speedy recoveries.

Extra Bit » Former Gators forward/center David Lee, now with the New York Knicks, scored a season-high 31 points and 17 rebounds Friday night in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Lee is currently having the best season of his NBA career, averaging 19.1 points, 11.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 36.9 minutes per game. George Vecsey of The New York Times wrote an in-depth piece on Lee’s relationship with his grandfather that was published in Friday’s paper.