Gators Host Top-Level Competition in Gainesville

Saturday, February 4

Gainesville, FL

1:30 PM

Florida Gators

#8 USC

Photo: Adler Garfield / UAA Communications

Gators Host Top-Level Competition in Gainesville

Friday, February 3, 2017 | Men's Tennis

By: Kelsey Bibik

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 2017 SEC/Pac-12 Showdown promises to bring some of the best collegiate tennis in the nation to Gainesville on Saturday and Sunday as No. 11 Florida will host No. 5 Georgia, No. 6 UCLA and No. 8 USC.

The Gators will face the USC Trojans on Saturday and the UCLA Bruins on Sunday, both of which will prove to be some of the toughest competition the Gators have seen so far this season. Florida has not defeated USC since 2003 (in Louisville), but it did top UCLA just two years ago (2016's match was canceled).

This weekend marks the beginning of an incredibly tough month for the Gators, as they will face four top-10 teams as well as head to the National Team Indoor Championships, where they will face some of the best teams in the country. The Gators host three top-ten teams at home, including USC, UCLA, and No. 3 Ohio State, and they will travel to No. 1 University of Virginia on February 11^th.

These matches come after the Gators went on a 4-0 run at home – sweeping every match – to start its 2017 spring season. Florida's last two wins against UNC Wilmington and LSU qualified them for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, to be held in Charlottesville, Va. in late February.

Quoting Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On how they prepare for a schedule as tough as Florida's...
"We just take it one day at a time. For us, it's knowing that if you come here to Florida you're going to get the opportunity to play against the best competition in the country, not only in our conference but outside of our conference as well.
"That's part of the reason I've always scheduled tough – I want to play the very best schools that we can, give our guys an idea of the level that we're going to have to get to in order to be a championship team and to be able to win it all. Being able to see all those quality opponents certainly helps us."

On the leadership of the team's upperclassmen...
"I think they have an impact, especially this series with USC and UCLA, Maxx [Lipman], Josh [Wardell] and Elliott [Orkin] are three guys that have been part of that match up for the last three years. So I think they can certainly attest to the fact that we're good enough to win this match. I think that in the locker room goes a long way, having guys that have been in these match ups and have had success out there before against these teams, and to be able to relay that to the younger guys to let them know that we don't need to go out there just to try to put on a good show or just to hang in there – we're playing to win."

Schedule of Events
All matches held at Linder Stadium at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex on the University of Florida Campus

Saturday, February 4^th
    No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 6 UCLA | 10 AM
    No. 11 Florida vs. No. 8 USC | 1:30 PM

Sunday, February 5^th
    No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 8 USC | 10 AM
    No. 11 Florida vs. No. 6 UCLA | 1:30 PM

How the competition matches up...

In the Oracle/ITA rankings

Team
Georgia (5), UCLA (6), USC (8), Florida (11)

Individual
Florida

No. 13 Alfredo Perez
No. 64 Elliott Orkin
No. 67 McClain Kessler
No. 93 Joshua Wardell
No. 98 Maxx Lipman
No. 107 Jordan Belga

USC

No. 20 Brandon Holt
No. 28 Logan Smith
No. 88 Nick Crystal
No. 114 Thibault Forget

UCLA

No. 11 Gage Brymer
No. 87 Maxime Cressy
No. 90 Joseph Di Giulio

Georgia

No. 22 Wayne Montgomery
No. 31 Emil Reinberg
No. 56 Jan Zielinski
No. 79 Walker Duncan
No. 124 Nathan Ponwith

Doubles
Florida

No. 3 Johannes Ingildsen/Alfredo Perez
No. 29 Maxx Lipman/Elliott Orkin

USC

No. 35 Logan Smith/Thibault Forget
No. 49 Rob Bellamy/Logan Smith

UCLA

Georgia

No. 24 Wayne Montgomery/Robert Loeb
No. 37 Jan Zielinski/Walker Duncan
No. 41 Wayne Montgomery/Emil Reinberg
No. 46 Nathan Ponwith/Emil Reinberg
T55 Jan Zielinski/Robert Loeb

In the tournament

Florida advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, where they fell to eventual national champion Virginia.
USC advanced to the third round of the tournament, where they fell to Georgia.
UCLA advanced to the quarterfinals as well, where they fell to runner-up Oklahoma.
Georgia made it the farthest of the four, as it advanced to the semifinals until falling to runner-up Oklahoma.

Records
Florida vs. USC: 2-7
Florida vs. UCLA: 2-13
Georgia vs. USC: 12-16
Georgia vs. UCLA: 13-8

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