Riffice Named to CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team
Friday, August 6, 2021 | Men's Tennis, Otis Hawkins Center
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For the first time in program history, a Gator was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Division I At-Large Team after men's tennis captain Sam Riffice earned Academic All-America Second Team accolades as announced by CoSIDA on Friday afternoon.
The political science major boasts an impressive 3.72 GPA and is the first men's tennis player to receive this honor. Riffice was also named to the SEC Academic Spring Honor Roll List and the ITA Scholar-Athletes All-Academic Team earlier this month, in addition to receiving CoSIDA's Academic All-District IV Men's At-Large First Team, which qualified him to receive All-American status.
After helping the team to its first NCAA National Championship title with a 4-1 victory over Baylor, Riffice also won the NCAA Singles Championship, making him the third player in program history to do so since 1999. Riffice finished the season ranked No. 2 in the final ITA tennis rankings, while earning his fourth All-American honor after becoming the eighth player in the 21st century to earn a team and singles national championship in the same season. Riffice went on to beat the No. 1 and No. 2-seeds in back-to-back days to win the singles title just days after claiming the team national championship.
Below is the complete list of the Men's At-Large CoSIDA 2020-21 Academic All-America Team:
CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year: Nick Albiero, University of Louisville
(1) – 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team selection
(2) – 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team selection
(3) – 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-American Third Team selection
(#) – 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-American First Team selection
(%) – 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team selection
($) – 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team selection
(&) – 2018 CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team selection
The political science major boasts an impressive 3.72 GPA and is the first men's tennis player to receive this honor. Riffice was also named to the SEC Academic Spring Honor Roll List and the ITA Scholar-Athletes All-Academic Team earlier this month, in addition to receiving CoSIDA's Academic All-District IV Men's At-Large First Team, which qualified him to receive All-American status.
After helping the team to its first NCAA National Championship title with a 4-1 victory over Baylor, Riffice also won the NCAA Singles Championship, making him the third player in program history to do so since 1999. Riffice finished the season ranked No. 2 in the final ITA tennis rankings, while earning his fourth All-American honor after becoming the eighth player in the 21st century to earn a team and singles national championship in the same season. Riffice went on to beat the No. 1 and No. 2-seeds in back-to-back days to win the singles title just days after claiming the team national championship.
Below is the complete list of the Men's At-Large CoSIDA 2020-21 Academic All-America Team:
FIRST TEAM
| Sport | Name | School | Yr. | GPA | Major |
| Swimming | Nick Albiero (1) | University of Louisville | Sr. | 3.95 | Health & Human Performance in Exercise Science |
| Gymnastics | Jack Baldwin | Pennsylvania State University | Sr. | 4.00 | Mechanical Engineering |
| Golf | Ford Clegg | Mississippi State University | Jr. | 4.00 | Finance |
| Lacrosse | Phil Goss (1) (#) | Brown University | Sr. | 4.00 | Economics & Political Science |
| Volleyball | Miki Jauhiainen (1) ($) | Brigham Young University | Gr. | 4.00 / 4.00 | Computer Science (G) |
| Swimming | Eric Knowles (1) ($) | North Carolina State University | Sr. | 4.00 | Materials Science Engineering |
| Ice Hockey | Jack LaFontaine | University of Minnesota | Sr. | 3.83 | English |
| Swimming | Derek Maas | University of Alabama | Sr. | 4.00 | Biology / Premed |
| Swimming | Micah Oh (1) | U.S. Naval Academy | Sr. | 4.00 | Honors Applied Mathematics |
| Tennis | Jannik Opitz (1) (%) | Western Michigan University | Gr. | 4.00 /4.00 | Applied Statistics |
| Swimming | Nicholas Perera | University of Alabama | Jr. | 4.00 | Mechanical Engineering |
| Water Polo | Nicolas Saveljic | UCLA | Gr. | 3.85 / 3.85 | Education |
| Tennis | Carl Söderlund | University of Virginia | Gr. | 3.73 /3.72 | Commerce |
| Wrestling | Anthony Valencia | Arizona State University | Sr. | 4.00 | Business (Communication) |
| Gymnastics | Shane Wiskus | University of Minnesota | Sr. | 3.40 | Business & Marketing Education |
SECOND TEAM
| Sport | Name | School | Yr. | GPA | Major |
| Water Polo | Tyler Abramson | Stanford University | Sr. | 3.60 | Management Science & Engineering |
| Wrestling | Myles Amine | University of Michigan | Gr. | 3.40 / 3.82 | Business Administration (UG) / Sport Mgmt. (G) |
| Swimming | Cade Auerbach | University of Alabama | Sr. | 4.00 | Finance / Economics / Math |
| Wrestling | Paul Bianchi | University of Arkansas at Little Rock | Sr. | 4.00 | Sport Management |
| Swimming | Ben Bramley | Purdue University | Jr. | 3.89 | Finance |
| Swimming | Andrew Capobianco ($) | Indiana University | Jr. | 3.75 | Exercise Science |
| Lacrosse | Christian Daniel (3) | U.S. Naval Academy | Sr. | 3.84 | Astrophysics |
| Lacrosse | Conor Gaffney (2) ($) (&) | Lehigh University | Gr. | 3.95 / 4.00 | Mechanical Engineering & Finance (UG) |
| Lacrosse | Chris Gray | University of North Carolina | Sr. | 3.65 | Management & Society |
| Wrestling | Shane Griffith | Stanford University | Jr. | 3.54 | Science, Technology & Society |
| Wrestling | Zach Hartman | Bucknell University | Jr. | 3.91 | Biology (Pre-Med) |
| Ice Hockey | Austin Kamer | Michigan State University | Sr. | 4.00 | Chemical Engineering |
| Wrestling | Nick Lee | Pennsylvania State University | Sr. | 3.53 | Health Policy & Administration |
| Ice Hockey | Strauss Mann | University of Michigan | Jr. | 3.91 | Business Administration |
| Tennis | Charlie Morkel | UNC Asheville | Sr. | 4.00 | Mathematics & Economics |
| Tennis | Sam Riffice | University of Florida | Jr. | 3.72 | Political Science |
| Tennis | Andrew Ton | U.S. Naval Academy | Sr. | 3.77 | Quantitative Economics |
THIRD TEAM
| Sport | Name | School | Yr. | GPA | Major |
| Lacrosse | Alex Akins | University of Detroit Mercy | Gr. | 3.90 / 4.00 | MBA |
| Lacrosse | Michael Altmann | Hofstra University | Gr. | 3.57 / 3.81 | Management (UG) / Marketing (G) |
| Swimming | Nate Biondi | University of California, Berkeley | Sr. | 3.57 | American Studies |
| Tennis | Axel Geller | Stanford University | Sr. | 3.80 | Economics |
| Wrestling | Hayden Hidlay | North Carolina State University | Gr. | 3.52 / 4.00 | Business Admin. (UG) / Nonprofit Management (G) |
| Fencing | Finn Hossfeld | Duke University | So. | 3.88 | Public Policy |
| Wrestling | Mason Kauffman | Northern Illinois University | Sr. | 4.00 | Kinesiology |
| Golf | David Laskin | University of Arizona | Sr. | 3.75 | Finance |
| Fencing | Nestor Levin | U.S. Air Force Academy | Jr. | 3.86 | Engineering Chemistry |
| Swimming | Alex Liang | Stanford University | Sr. | 3.61 | Economics |
| Gymnastics | Andrew Lyubovsky | William & Mary | Sr. | 3.83 | Computer Science / Neuroscience |
| Tennis | Francisco Rocha | Middle Tennessee State University | Jr. | 4.00 | Economics / Business Administration |
| Tennis | Fermin Ruiz Crespo | Alabama A&M University | Sr. | 4.00 | Civil Engineering |
| Tennis | Pascal Wagemaker | Georgia Southern University | Sr. | 4.00 | Mechanical Engineering |
| Skiiing | Joey Young | University of Colorado | Sr. | 3.85 | Finance / Accounting |
CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year: Nick Albiero, University of Louisville
(1) – 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team selection
(2) – 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team selection
(3) – 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-American Third Team selection
(#) – 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-American First Team selection
(%) – 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team selection
($) – 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team selection
(&) – 2018 CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team selection
Players Mentioned
/ 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
