Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After propelling Florida to one of its' best season in program history, Head Coach Bryan Shelton, freshman Sam Riffice and sophomore Oliver Crawford were rewarded with ITA Southeast Regional honors.  Crawford also grabbed one of the ITA's national awards.
 
Shelton, who was the SEC Coach of the Year, was also named the ITA Southeast Region Coach of the Year.   While SEC Freshman of the Year, Riffice, earned the ITA Southeast Region Rookie of the Year award.
 
Crawford, a sophomore, was named the ITA National and Southeast Region Player to Watch.  This is the second consecutive season that Crawford has earned an ITA accolade as he was the 2018 Southeast Rookie of the Year.
 
Already an automatic All-American selection after earning a top-8 seed in the NCAA Singles Championships, Crawford played all singles matches at the No. 1 position and holds a 16-8 record, including 12-7 over ranked individuals.  In doubles, Crawford saw time at all three positions in the Gators lineup.  He is 15-6 in dual doubles and 8-3 in league action.  He was 10-2 at No. 3 doubles.
The Spartanburg, S.C. native earned his second consecutive first-team All-SEC honor and also named to the SEC Tournament team. 
 
He was also named team captain as a sophomore and was a member of the Team USA Master'U team. 
 
Crawford has been ranked in both singles and doubles nationally for his entire career, earning a career-high No. 7 in the singles rankings.  Crawford earned a bid to the ITA Fall National Championships in doubles as him and partner Andy Andrade worked their way through the qualifying doubles draw into the main draw.  Once they were there, the sophomore team won three consecutive matches in straight set victories and advanced to the semifinals.
 
He also earned a singles championship title at the UVA Masters fall tournament, as well as a double title at the same tournament.   
 
Riffice posted a perfect 10-0 record in conference singles play and became the first Florida freshman since Jesse Levine in 2007 to produce an undefeated singles conference record.  He also posted a team-best 19 dual singles wins, rotating between the No. 2 and 3 singles positions.  The Orlando native is 8-5 against nationally ranked players. In doubles, Riffice is 16-5, playing primarily at No. 3. 
 
His performances earned him SEC Freshman of the Year, Second-Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman honors.
 
He is currently ranked No. 54 in singles, but has been ranked as high No. 32.  In doubles, he is currently ranked No. 69 with partner Andy Andrade, but has been ranked as high as No. 13.
 
In Shelton's seventh season with Florida, the Gators went 12-0 in conference play and earned its first SEC regular season championship since 2003.  He guided the team to a 25-4 record and Florida advanced to the first Final Four since 2005, only the third in program history.
 
Shelton helped produce five NCAA individual selections, including an automatic All-American honor for Crawford.   He also coached Florida to a program-record eight SEC postseason honors, including SEC Freshman of the Year for Riffice.  The Gators put one on First-Team All-SEC, three on the second team and two on the All-Freshman team.  Riffice and Lukas Greif (SEC All-Freshman honorees) helped make up the No. 1 recruiting class for Florida as it became one of only three schools to sign at least two five-star Blue Chip recruits. 
 
Shelton's singles squad put up an impressive 116-34 dual record, while only dropping 10 matches at the 4-6 positions and are 30-21 against nationally ranked individuals.  As a team, Florida was 19-4 against top-50 opponents, 14-1 at home and 8-0 on the road. 
 
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