No. 6 Seed Florida Set for 2015 SEC Tournament in College Station
Wednesday, April 15, 2015 | Men's Tennis
SEC Tournament Central Page
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The University of Florida men's tennis team is in College Station, Texas, this week for the 2015 Southeastern Conference Tournament, hosted by Texas A&M University. The Gators enter the tournament as the No. 6 seed after finishing the season 13-7 overall and 8-4 in the league.
Florida will open play on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET after earning a bye through the opening round. UF will face No. 11-seed Kentucky in the second round. UF just faced UK this past weekend in its final road trip of the season.
The Gators downed Kentucky, 4-1, despite losing the doubles point. Florida rallied in singles during that match as UF picked up four-straight individual wins to take the match. Diego Hidalgo, Elliott Orkin, Chase Perez-Blanco and Joshua Wardell earned the singles tallies for the Orange and Blue.
The Gators lead the all-time series with the Wildcats, 44-14, including a 5-0 mark against the Wildcats in the SEC Tournament. At the SEC Tourney, The two schools last met in the 2011 finals when UF blanked UK, 4-0, to win the title.
No. 3 seed Mississippi State awaits the winner of the UF/UK match in the quarterfinals. That match is scheduled to be played on Friday at 1 p.m. ET.
Shelton's Notes – Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On the SEC Tournament this week…
“I feel like our team is trending in the right direction, especially that we just finished the regular season and that we are going into the postseason. I feel very confident that our guys are just starting to believe in themselves a little more. We've got a young squad here that has grown up a lot throughout the season, as some of our guys have dealt with some adversity and made it to the other side of it. We always talk about building character in this program and making sure that we do the things that are going to help us be great in the future. We're moving in the right direction as our team chemistry has been great. I'm excited for this week.
SEC Tournament Format:
The SEC Tournament format consists of a single-elimination tournament of six singles and three doubles. Once a team clinches the match, all play stops immediately for matches in progress. There will be no consolation matches. Singles and doubles champions shall not be named. Complete information about the tournament, including links for live scoring, can be found online through Texas A&M's website, www.12thman.com.
Leading the Way:
Elliott Orkin, Diego Hidalgo and Chase Perez-Blanco have paced the Gators singles attack this season with records of 25-7, 24-7 and 24-9, respectively. In addition, Orkin and Perez-Blanco each posted eight wins during SEC play this season.
Double Down:
This past Sunday, No. 81 Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin took down the No. 3 doubles team in the country, Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese of Tennessee, 6-4, and improved their doubles marks this season to 8-2 in SEC play. They as well as the rest of the Gators will look to carry that hot play into this week's SEC Tournament.
Weekly Honor:
For the second time this season, rookie Chase Perez-Blanco was named SEC Freshman of the Week, the league announced two days ago. This past week, the Miami, Fla. product has scored a singles point for the Gators in six of their last seven wins and has contributed a point to seven of their eight total conference victories. He got his first taste of SEC doubles action over the weekend, going 1-1 competing with Joshua Wardell at No. 3 doubles. The new pairing clinched UF's first doubles point in three matches with a 6-2 victory over Tennessee's Jack Schipanski and Luis Valero.
SEC Tournament History:
Florida is 31-18 at the SEC Tournament since team play was initiated in 1990. Last season, UF made the SEC Tournament Final, but fell to Texas A&M, 4-2.
#17 Florida (13-7, 8-4) vs. Kentucky (14-15, 3-9)
Thursday, April 16 at 10 a.m. ET
Mitchell Tennis Center, College Station, Texas
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=89253
Notes: http://www.gatorzone.com/tennis/men/stats/notes/pre/20150416130000.pdf
FOLLOW THE GATORS:
Online
On Twitter
On Facebook
