Wednesday, January 15
Gainesville, FL
5 PM
Florida Gators
vs
Texas
Florida looks to knock off the defending National Champions for the second consecutive year at Linder Stadium.
No. 1 Florida Hosts No. 2 Texas in Highly-Touted Early Season Showdown
Tuesday, January 14, 2020 | Men's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 1 University of Florida men's tennis team prepares for a long-awaited matchup with the No. 2 Texas Longhorns, slated for 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at the Alfred A. Ring Complex, as the Gators look to dethrone the defending National Champions in a rematch of last season's NCAA Final Four matchup.
After making its first trip to the NCAA semifinals since 2005 and for the third time in program history last season, Florida's quest to reach its first National Championship narrowly came to an end at the hands of the Longhorns, 4-2, at the USTA National Campus. Despite seeing its deepest run in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Bryan Shelton, the Gators look to take a step forward with their significant depth and return of talent in overcoming an early season challenge of taking down No. 2 Texas.
The Longhorns came in at No. 2 in the Oracle/ITA Preseason Rankings, registering four first-place votes to come in just behind the Gators, who received five first-place votes, in securing the top ranking to begin the season.
The No. 1 Gators enter Wednesday's matchup coming off dominant performances last weekend, collecting a pair of commanding wins over Furman, 6-1, and FAU, 7-0. Florida went 11-1 in singles and was 4-0 in doubles through both matches on Saturday.
A plethora of Gators got matches in over the weekend, as juniors No. 17 Duarte Vale and Josh Goodger, along with freshman No. 118 Blaise Bicknell, went 2-0 in singles. No. 4 Sam Riffice, No. 31 Oliver Crawford and No. 72 Andy Andrade also sit 1-0 on the year with singles wins, while No. 71 Lukas Greif enters Wednesday with a 1-1 mark. With doubles being a focal point of improvement throughout the fall, the development translated into Saturday's doubleheaders as the Gators claimed doubles points in both matches, seeing wins from No. 14 Crawford and Riffice, senior Johannes Ingildsen and freshman Will Grant (over a top-10 ranked duo), Greysen Cacciatore and Goodger, and Harrison Cacciatore and Riffice.
A victory in tomorrow's matchup would mark the second consecutive year knocking off the defending National Champions at Linder Stadium, as the Gators dropped then-reigning national champs Wake Forest last season, 5-2, on March 13, 2019.
SCOUTING THE LONGHORNS
No. 2 Texas (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) | 2018: 29-3, 5-0 Big 12
The Longhorns return the experience and talent of a national-title contending team, as Texas features one of the top duos in college tennis in No. 2 Yuya Ito and No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard (No. 4 doubles tandem). No. 2 Ito, who won both the ITA National Fall Championships singles and ITA All-American Championships singles title this past fall, leads Texas with a 17-1 singles mark entering the Longhorns' first dual match of the season. Texas' Chih Chi Huang also returns with significant experience in both the singles and doubles lineups, while being joined by a group of talented newcomers in Siem Woldeab, Jacob Bullard, Evin McDonald, Cleever Harper and Eshan Talluri. Additionally, Texas holds four doubles tandems ranked in the top 60 of the ITA National Doubles Rankings.
MATCH INFORMATION
After making its first trip to the NCAA semifinals since 2005 and for the third time in program history last season, Florida's quest to reach its first National Championship narrowly came to an end at the hands of the Longhorns, 4-2, at the USTA National Campus. Despite seeing its deepest run in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Bryan Shelton, the Gators look to take a step forward with their significant depth and return of talent in overcoming an early season challenge of taking down No. 2 Texas.
It's 𝗢𝗨𝗥 time to be 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧...
— Gators Men's Tennis (@GatorsMTN) January 14, 2020
If you're not a 🐊, you're 🐊 𝙗𝙖𝙞𝙩 ‼️ #GatorWayBestWay | #BeatTexas 🔷🔶🎾 pic.twitter.com/lXRm6lqemn
The Longhorns came in at No. 2 in the Oracle/ITA Preseason Rankings, registering four first-place votes to come in just behind the Gators, who received five first-place votes, in securing the top ranking to begin the season.
The No. 1 Gators enter Wednesday's matchup coming off dominant performances last weekend, collecting a pair of commanding wins over Furman, 6-1, and FAU, 7-0. Florida went 11-1 in singles and was 4-0 in doubles through both matches on Saturday.
A plethora of Gators got matches in over the weekend, as juniors No. 17 Duarte Vale and Josh Goodger, along with freshman No. 118 Blaise Bicknell, went 2-0 in singles. No. 4 Sam Riffice, No. 31 Oliver Crawford and No. 72 Andy Andrade also sit 1-0 on the year with singles wins, while No. 71 Lukas Greif enters Wednesday with a 1-1 mark. With doubles being a focal point of improvement throughout the fall, the development translated into Saturday's doubleheaders as the Gators claimed doubles points in both matches, seeing wins from No. 14 Crawford and Riffice, senior Johannes Ingildsen and freshman Will Grant (over a top-10 ranked duo), Greysen Cacciatore and Goodger, and Harrison Cacciatore and Riffice.
A victory in tomorrow's matchup would mark the second consecutive year knocking off the defending National Champions at Linder Stadium, as the Gators dropped then-reigning national champs Wake Forest last season, 5-2, on March 13, 2019.
SCOUTING THE LONGHORNS
No. 2 Texas (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) | 2018: 29-3, 5-0 Big 12
The Longhorns return the experience and talent of a national-title contending team, as Texas features one of the top duos in college tennis in No. 2 Yuya Ito and No. 13 Christian Sigsgaard (No. 4 doubles tandem). No. 2 Ito, who won both the ITA National Fall Championships singles and ITA All-American Championships singles title this past fall, leads Texas with a 17-1 singles mark entering the Longhorns' first dual match of the season. Texas' Chih Chi Huang also returns with significant experience in both the singles and doubles lineups, while being joined by a group of talented newcomers in Siem Woldeab, Jacob Bullard, Evin McDonald, Cleever Harper and Eshan Talluri. Additionally, Texas holds four doubles tandems ranked in the top 60 of the ITA National Doubles Rankings.
- Series History: UT leads, 10-6 (1-2 under Bryan Shelton)
- Last meeting: May 18, 2019 in Orlando – L, 2-4
MATCH INFORMATION
- Alfred A. Ring Complex | 5 p.m.
- Live Stream
- Live Stats
- Promotions:
- First 300 fans receive free Florida Men's Tennis T-shirts
- First 50 students get free Chick-fil-A
- "Kid's Korner" on Concourse:
- Games & activities
- Face painter
- Balloon artist
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
Inside Florida Gators Men's Tennis
Wednesday, July 17
One-on-One with Coach Steinberg 3-7-24
Thursday, March 07
Bryan Shelton Postmatch 2-2-23
Saturday, February 04
Jonah Braswell Postmatch 2-2-23
Saturday, February 04
