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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For just the eighth time in program history and third in the last four years, one of the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals matches will feature the Florida Gators. This year, the third-seeded Gators will face off against the Baylor Bears at the USTA National Campus on Thursday.
First serve for the night cap of the men's quarterfinal round is slated for 7 p.m. and the match will be the featured broadcast on the Tennis Channel. Sam Gore, Katrina Adams and Hana Ostapchuk will be on the call.
Florida is 6-6 all-time against Baylor, but 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament. The last meeting between the Gators and the Bears was in Gainesville during
Bryan Shelton's first season with the team (2013) and No. 20 Baylor upset No. 16 Florida, 4-3. The two teams played each other 10 straight seasons (2004-2013) in the series but will now face off for the first time in six years. In the only NCAA meeting, Baylor defeated the Gators in one of their two semifinal appearances in program history.
Florida advanced to the final destination with a 4-2 win over Tennessee in the third episode of the Gators/Vols rivalry. It also earned shutout wins in the opening two rounds over Florida Gulf Coast and No. 28 Florida State.
In all three matches, the Gators relied on the doubles point and three singles wins to take the wins over the Vols, Seminoles and Eagles.
Florida ended the regular season on a 14-match winning streak and a regular season SEC title, but fell in the semifinals of the conference tournament. All three of the Gators' losses came to teams that earned top-16 seeds in this year's NCAA Tournament (No. 8 USC, No. 12 Stanford, and No. 14 Tennessee), but didn't advance beyond the round of 16.
Showcasing their lineup versatility in singles, eight players are a combined 111-31 in dual matches and have only lost nine matches at the No. 4, 5 and 6 positions.
Johannes Ingildsen and
Sam Riffice have won a team-best 18 dual singles matches, while
Duarte Vale is 15-1, including 9-0 in his last 10 matches.
While doubles have been inconsistent all season, they have produced a 43-23 dual record and have earned the doubles point in 19 of the 27 matches.
Florida has players scattered throughout the latest ITA doubles and singles rankings, with No. 9
Oliver Crawford leading the way in singles and the doubles duo of
McClain Kessler and Vale sitting at No. 19.
No. 4 Florida vs No. 6 Baylor
Time & Date: Thursday, May 16 | 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: USTA National Campus (Lake Nona, Fla.)
Watch: https://tennischanneleverywhere.com/watchnow
Stats: https://www.ustanationalcampus.com/en/home/collegiate/ncaa-championships.html
Tickets: https://www.ticketmaster.com/usta-national-campus-tickets-orlando/venue/279662
Scouting the Bears
Baylor sits at No. 6 in the recent Oracle/ITA rankings and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the BIG 12 Tournament Championship over No. 2 Texas. This appearance marks the Bears 22nd in program history, first under first-year Head Coach Brian Boland. Boland has lead teams to 18 NCAA Tournaments and won four national championships in a five-year span at Virginia before departing to become the head of men's tennis for USTA Player Development in May 2017.
Coming into the match with a 25-5 record, all five of Baylor's losses came to NCAA Tournament teams, three of which advanced to the Elite 8.
The Bears advanced to Orlando by virtue of wins over UCLA (4-1) in the Round of 16 and Utah (4-0) and Michigan (4-1) in the first and second rounds of the Waco Regional, respectively.
Baylor's lineup includes five players ranked in the latest ITA singles release. No. 20 Johannes Schretter is 8-6 at the No. 1 line, No. 25 Matias Soto, No. 76 Sven Lah, No. 78 Will Little, No. 112 Adrian Boitan are a combined 71-14. In doubles, the top-ranked duo, Sven Lah and Jimmy Bendeck are 15-4 at the No. 1 spot.
Series Information –Florida/Baylor
Baylor (25-5 overall, 3-2 BIG 12)
- Series History: Tied 6-6 (0-1 under Bryan Shelton)
- Last Time Out: Feb. 23, 2013 (Gainesville) – L, 3-4
Florida's NCAA Tournament History
- All-Time Record: 54-28
- Best Finish: Semifinals (2005, 2000)
- Records by Round:
- First Round: 18-3
- Second Round: 18-1
- Round of 16: 8-14
- Quarterfinals: 2-5
- Semifinals: 0-2
- Finals: 0-0
- Last Year at the Tournament:
- No. 13 seed
- 1st Round (Gainesville): vs South Carolina State, W, 4-0
- 2nd Round (Gainesville): vs Miami, W, 4-0
- Round of 16 (Winston-Salem, N.C.): vs Ole Miss, W, 4-3
- Quarterfinals (Winston-Salem, N.C.): vs Texas A&M, L, 3-4
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