LAKE NONA, Fla. – Florida captains
Oliver Crawford and
Sam Riffice became the 29
th and 30
th players in program history to be named ITA All-Americans on Tuesday at the USTA National Campus.
Crawford and Riffice each downed top-60 players from the USC Trojans' squad in two sets to advance to the round of 16.
It is the first All-American nod for both and Riffice became just the seventh freshman in Florida history to earn the accolade and first in singles since Jesse Levine in 2007.
Crawford kicked off day two of singles actions with a contest against No. 57 Tanner Smith of USC. After taking the opening set 6-3 and battled to take the second 7-5.
In the sweet 16, the sophomore will meet No. 19 William Blumberg of North Carolina. Blumberg advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Baylor's Matias Soto. Blumberg comes into the match with a 7-7 dual singles record and has notable wins over Texas' Christian Sigsgaard and Florida State's Lucas Poullain.
"It's awesome. Everyone in this competition is very good. I've had two tough matches and have been lucky enough to get through," Crawford said. "But representing Florida is something we are very passionate about, so we wanted to do as well as we could [in the individuals] and show everyone that the Gators don't go away."
Andy Andrade faced the end of his season as he fell in two sets to top-seeded Nuno Borges of Mississippi State.
The sophomore finished the season tied for a team-high 20 dual singles wins and was named to the All-SEC Second-team and the NCAA All-Tournament Team. He also clinched four matches for the Gators this season, rotating between the No. 2-5 positions.
Finally taking the court two hours after his scheduled start time, Riffice wasted no time establishing a lead in his match. The freshman took the first set 6-3 and followed it up with a 6-2 second set and cruised to into the sweet 16 with his win over No. 24 Daniel Cukierman. This was the second meeting between Cukierman and Riffice. Cukierman took the first meeting in the team competition at the ITA Indoor National Championships.
"I'm very happy to have executed my game plan so well and to get another chance to compete tomorrow," Riffice said.
Next up, Riffice will have a huge test as he faces No. 2 JJ Wolf of Ohio State. Wolf escaped his round of 32 match against Matej Vocel of Oklahoma State in a thrilling three-set (4-6, 6-2, 7-5) win. Wolf is 30-1 in dual singles matches, playing primarily at No. 1 for the Buckeyes.
In the first round of doubles play,
Duarte Vale and
McClain Kessler had a tightly contested match, dropping both sets in tiebreak. This loss ended any chance of repeating as All-Americans for the sophomore/senior pair.
Vale finishes the season with a 15-1 dual singles record and 18 doubles wins and was perhaps the most improved player on Florida's roster this season.
This also marked the last match that Kessler will play in the orange and blue. The senior racked up 147 career wins, one All-American honor, but it's his energy, passion and love for the game that will truly be missed on the courts.
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