Friday, March 11
Athens, Ga.
3:30 PM
Florida Gators
at
Georgia
No. 4 Florida Faces No. 8 Georgia, No. 1 Tennessee This Week
Thursday, March 10, 2022 | Men's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For the fourth time this season, the Florida Gators men's tennis team will face two top-10 opponents in the same week as the Gators first travel to Athens, Ga., on Friday for a 3:30 p.m. matchup against No. 8 Georgia, then heads to Knoxville, Tenn., for a contest against the No. 1 team in the nation, Tennessee, on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Florida is 5-1 versus top-10 teams, with its only loss coming at the hands of ITA National Team Indoor Champions, TCU, back in January.
The Gators started conference play with a perfect 2-0 record over No. 6 South Carolina and No. 9 Kentucky this past weekend. Against SC, the Gators completed their third sweep of the year, besting the Gamecocks by a score of 7-0. In the match, sophomore Ben Shelton collected his 11th ranked singles win this season after beating No. 19 Daniel Rodrigues.
In the following match versus Kentucky, Florida pulled out a huge 4-3 win over the Wildcats. After claiming the doubles point with wins on courts two and three from Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar and Nate Bonetto/Duarte Vale, the team would win three more singles matches on courts one, two and six to seal the deal.
Senior Sam Riffice picked up the first singles win after defeating Millen Hurrion in straight-sets, 6-2, 6-2. Shelton posted another victory at one singles with his win over Liam Draxl, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. It was Bonetto who would clinch the match for the Gators as the freshman tallied a win at six singles over JJ Mercer, 7-6 (8), 7-5.
With their impressive performances on the week, both Shelton and Bonetto earned SEC Player of the Week and SEC Freshman of the Week honors, respectively.
In the updated ITA rankings, Florida moved up one spot to No. 4, while five players found a place in the singles rankings and three doubles teams also made the rankings list.
For the first time in his career, Shelton is the new No. 1 singles player in the country, moving up two spots from his previous 3 ranking. Riffice follows at No. 56, Andrade is next at No. 93, Vale made his singles ranking debut at No. 109 and Bonetto re-entered the list with a No. 119 ranking. In doubles, Abedallah Shelbayh and Siimar sit at No. 33, the Andrade/Siimar pair is No. 54 and the Andrade/Vale duo comes in a No. 79.
Scouting the Opponents
The No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs team comes into the week with a 10-3 overall record, with their only losses coming against No. 6 Wake Forest (twice) and Florida. The Bulldogs collected wins against UCF, Georgia Tech, Washington, Texas, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.
Florida last faced Georgia at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle, where the Gators picked up a 4-2 victory. Shelton, Andrade and Bonetto all collected singles wins after the team clinched the doubles point. The Bulldogs also have four players ranked in singles and four teams ranked in doubles.
The Gators have another tough task following the Georgia match as they face No. 1 Tennessee. The Volunteers, who are 14-2 on the season, finished second at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships after dropping their match to TCU. The Vols have victories over Wake Forest, Texas A&M, TCU, South Carolina, Baylor, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The two teams last faced in the SEC Tournament championship match last year, as the Vols pulled out a 4-3 win. Tennessee has three in the singles rankings with Johannus Monday coming in at the No. 4 spot. In addition, they also have four doubles teams in the rankings.
Opponents in the rankings
Singles
Georgia
No. 19 Hamish Stewart
No. 31 Tristan McCormick
No. 40 Philip Henning
No. 84 Trent Bryde
Tennessee
No. 4 Johannus Monday
No. 18 Adam Walton
No. 55 Emile Hudd
Doubles
Georgia
No. 27 Trent Bryde/Philip Henning
No. 55 Tristan McCormick/Hamish Stewart
No. 58 Philip Henning/Hamish Stewart
No. 62 Blake Croyder/Erik Grevelius
Tennessee
No. 16 Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui
No. 45 Pat Harper/Adam Walton
No. 70 Pat Harper/Johannus Monday
No. 77 Johannus Monday/Mark Wallner
Gators in the rankings
Singles
No. 1 Ben Shelton
No. 56 Sam Riffice
No. 93 Andy Andrade
No. 109 Duarte Vale
No. 119 Nate Bonetto
Doubles
No. 33 Abedallah Shelbayh/Mattias Siimar
No. 54 Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar
No. 79 Andy Andrade/Duarte Vale
FOLLOW ALONG
There are multiple ways to follow along with both matches this week.
Cracked Racquets and the SEC Network recently announced a partnership for Redzone coverage on all Friday matches for the remainder of the season. The link to watch can be found here.
Both Georgia and Tennessee will have live video and live stats available for the match. Georgia's live stats and video can be found here. Tennessee's live video is on PlaySight, while its live stats are through Sidearm.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Florida is 5-1 versus top-10 teams, with its only loss coming at the hands of ITA National Team Indoor Champions, TCU, back in January.
The Gators started conference play with a perfect 2-0 record over No. 6 South Carolina and No. 9 Kentucky this past weekend. Against SC, the Gators completed their third sweep of the year, besting the Gamecocks by a score of 7-0. In the match, sophomore Ben Shelton collected his 11th ranked singles win this season after beating No. 19 Daniel Rodrigues.
In the following match versus Kentucky, Florida pulled out a huge 4-3 win over the Wildcats. After claiming the doubles point with wins on courts two and three from Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar and Nate Bonetto/Duarte Vale, the team would win three more singles matches on courts one, two and six to seal the deal.
Senior Sam Riffice picked up the first singles win after defeating Millen Hurrion in straight-sets, 6-2, 6-2. Shelton posted another victory at one singles with his win over Liam Draxl, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. It was Bonetto who would clinch the match for the Gators as the freshman tallied a win at six singles over JJ Mercer, 7-6 (8), 7-5.
With their impressive performances on the week, both Shelton and Bonetto earned SEC Player of the Week and SEC Freshman of the Week honors, respectively.
In the updated ITA rankings, Florida moved up one spot to No. 4, while five players found a place in the singles rankings and three doubles teams also made the rankings list.
For the first time in his career, Shelton is the new No. 1 singles player in the country, moving up two spots from his previous 3 ranking. Riffice follows at No. 56, Andrade is next at No. 93, Vale made his singles ranking debut at No. 109 and Bonetto re-entered the list with a No. 119 ranking. In doubles, Abedallah Shelbayh and Siimar sit at No. 33, the Andrade/Siimar pair is No. 54 and the Andrade/Vale duo comes in a No. 79.
Scouting the Opponents
The No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs team comes into the week with a 10-3 overall record, with their only losses coming against No. 6 Wake Forest (twice) and Florida. The Bulldogs collected wins against UCF, Georgia Tech, Washington, Texas, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.
Florida last faced Georgia at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle, where the Gators picked up a 4-2 victory. Shelton, Andrade and Bonetto all collected singles wins after the team clinched the doubles point. The Bulldogs also have four players ranked in singles and four teams ranked in doubles.
The Gators have another tough task following the Georgia match as they face No. 1 Tennessee. The Volunteers, who are 14-2 on the season, finished second at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships after dropping their match to TCU. The Vols have victories over Wake Forest, Texas A&M, TCU, South Carolina, Baylor, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The two teams last faced in the SEC Tournament championship match last year, as the Vols pulled out a 4-3 win. Tennessee has three in the singles rankings with Johannus Monday coming in at the No. 4 spot. In addition, they also have four doubles teams in the rankings.
Opponents in the rankings
Singles
Georgia
No. 19 Hamish Stewart
No. 31 Tristan McCormick
No. 40 Philip Henning
No. 84 Trent Bryde
Tennessee
No. 4 Johannus Monday
No. 18 Adam Walton
No. 55 Emile Hudd
Doubles
Georgia
No. 27 Trent Bryde/Philip Henning
No. 55 Tristan McCormick/Hamish Stewart
No. 58 Philip Henning/Hamish Stewart
No. 62 Blake Croyder/Erik Grevelius
Tennessee
No. 16 Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui
No. 45 Pat Harper/Adam Walton
No. 70 Pat Harper/Johannus Monday
No. 77 Johannus Monday/Mark Wallner
Gators in the rankings
Singles
No. 1 Ben Shelton
No. 56 Sam Riffice
No. 93 Andy Andrade
No. 109 Duarte Vale
No. 119 Nate Bonetto
Doubles
No. 33 Abedallah Shelbayh/Mattias Siimar
No. 54 Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar
No. 79 Andy Andrade/Duarte Vale
FOLLOW ALONG
There are multiple ways to follow along with both matches this week.
Cracked Racquets and the SEC Network recently announced a partnership for Redzone coverage on all Friday matches for the remainder of the season. The link to watch can be found here.
Both Georgia and Tennessee will have live video and live stats available for the match. Georgia's live stats and video can be found here. Tennessee's live video is on PlaySight, while its live stats are through Sidearm.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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