FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 1 Florida (20-1) defeated No. 8 Texas A&M (16-8), 4-3, on Thursday night at the Billingsley Tennis Center to advance to Friday's Southeastern Conference Men's Tennis Tournament final against No. 5 Tennessee.
The Gators bounced back from a dropped doubles point and several deficits to take down the Aggies in the semifinal.
Josh Goodger struck first on No. 6 to improve to 12-0 in dual matches this year, cruising by his opponent.
Duarte Vale fell next on No. 1 to a fellow top-five player but
Sam Riffice was able to string together a brilliant three-set performance to pull proceedings level again at two.
Following Riffice's victory,
Ben Shelton tacked on a third win for UF to move to 3-2 in the match.
Andy Andrade fell in a tough matchup on No. 3, leaving all eyes on
Blaise Bicknell's No. 4 court in the third set with the dual match tied at three.
Bicknell, who improved to 19-0 in dual matches this season, came up big when he was needed the most and clinched the match for Florida.
The Gators will play the Volunteers at 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday with the match being televised on SEC Network. UF defeated UT, 5-2, in the regular season at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville.
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=349649
Doubles Results: 3, 2, 1
1. #6 Carlos Aguilar/Bjorn Thomson (TAMU) def.
#25 Johannes Ingildsen/Will Grant (UF) 6-4
2. #70 Valentin Vacherot/Pierce Rollins (TAMU) def.
Duarte Vale/Josh Goodger (UF) 6-3
3.
#15 Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) def. Pranav Kumar/Noah Schachter (TAMU) 6-2
Singles Results: 6, 1, 2, 5, 3, 4
1. #4 Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def.
#3 Duarte Vale (UF) 6-2, 6-4
2.
#6 Sam Riffice (UF) def. #5 Hady Habib (TAMU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
3. #42 Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) def.
#14 Andy Andrade (UF) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
4.
#56 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. #98 Noah Schachter (TAMU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
5.
Ben Shelton (UF) def. #123 Pierce Rollins (TAMU) 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 6-0
6.
#104 Josh Goodger (UF) def. Raphael Perot (TAMU) 6-1, 6-2
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