No. 13 Florida to Host Three Ranked Squads at ITA Kick-Off Weekend

Gainesville, Fla. – The competition will be fierce, as the No. 13 University of Florida men's tennis team hosts No. 32 Ole Miss, No. 29 South Carolina and No. 31 Stanford as part of the 2015 ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Gainesville. Action opens on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 11 a.m., with Florida taking on Ole Miss and South Carolina squaring off with Stanford, both at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

The winner of each match on Saturday will play in the championship match on Sunday, Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. for a spot in the ITA National Team Indoors event on Feb. 13 through Feb. 16 in Chicago, Ill. A consolation match will be played at 9 a.m.

Florida is coming off a 5-2 victory over Troy. Redshirt freshman Oliver Landert clinched the win with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the Trojans' No. 5 player, Daniel Bustamante. The Gators swept the doubles event, as three pairings remain undefeated through two matches: No. 32 Gordon Watson and Diego Hidalgo, No. 49 Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin and No. 43 Landert and Joshua Wardell.

Watson made his first singles line-up appearance of 2015 in the No. 3 position, but dropped a tough three-set battle to Hassan Ndayishimye, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 12-10. No. 81 Orkin, and freshmen Chase Perez-Blanco and Jordan Belga earned the additional singles victories for UF.

The Gators hold a 35-21 advantage in the all-time series with the Rebels.

Shelton's Notes – Head Coach Bryan Shelton

On team outlook for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend…

I feel pretty good about it. I feel like we've been practicing well, which is important. I feel like the health of our team is pretty good, as good as it can be. When you're playing sports, no one is going to be 100% all of the time. But for the most part, I feel like our guys are healthy, they've been able to do the things we've asked them to do and they're becoming better at taking care of themselves.

On the advantage of competing against SEC teams before conference play begins…

It's huge. There's not a lot of secrets there when we face an SEC opponent. We saw both South Carolina and Ole Miss in the fall already. They both came to an event we hosted, the SEC Fall Classic. We obviously see them during the regular season. We're fully aware of those guys and those are big matches for us because they're quality opponents number one, they're well coached teams and they know us pretty well, so it's a matter of going out there and seeing who's going to execute the best under pressure.

Among the Ranks:

All four teams competing in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Gainesville are ranked: No. 13 Florida, No. 29 South Carolina, No. 31 Stanford and No. 32 Ole Miss.

The Host with the Most:

Although each team features ranked individual players in addition to their team ranking, Florida has the most with three ranked singles players (tied with South Carolina) and four ranked doubles pairings.

Picture Perfect:

All four teams competing this weekend enter the event undefeated.

The Need to Know Info:

The seventh annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend consists of 120 teams – 60 men's and 60 women's – competing across the country at 22 different universities for berths in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Follow all the action by visiting the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event page. Follow the ITA on Twitter, @ITAtennis, and “like” the ITA on Facebook for updates. Use the hashtag #ITAKickOff in all tweets about the weekend and search for that same hashtag to find others tweeting about the event.

Season-Opening Success:

UF has started 3-0 or better in each of the past four seasons, including 6-0 starts in 2011 and 2013.

A Tough Test:

The Gators will be tested throughout the 2015 season, as they are slated to face nine top 25 teams, including five of the top 10 teams.

#13 Florida (2-0) vs. # 32 Ole Miss (1-0)

Saturday, Jan. 24 at 11 a.m. (Front courts)

Scott Linder Stadium at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex (Free admission, free parking)

Live Stats: http://www.gatorzone.com/tennis/live/?sport=tennm&live_match=12390

Notes: http://www.gatorzone.com/tennis/men/stats/notes/pre/20150124110000.pdf

#29 South Carolina (2-0) vs. #31 Stanford (1-0)

Saturday, Jan. 24 at 11 a.m. (Back courts)

Scott Linder Stadium at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex (Free admission, free parking)