Friday, March 25
Fayetteville, Ark.
5 PM
Florida Gators
at
Arkansas
No. 55 Arkansas Up Next for No. 2 Florida
Thursday, March 24, 2022 | Men's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 2-ranked Florida Gators travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to take on the No. 55 Arkansas Razorbacks on Friday, March 25 at 5 p.m. for their lone match of the week.
Florida is coming off an undefeated 3-0 week, which saw the team only lose one total point in their matches as they swept both No. 69 Illinois and No. 28 Mississippi State, 7-0, and beat No. 31 Ole Miss by a 6-1 score.
Against the Rebels, the Gators picked up two quick wins in doubles from the teams of Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton and Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar at courts one and two, respectively. The team also saw wins from Shelton, Riffice, Duarte Vale, Josh Goodger and Abedallah Shelbayh in singles. In his match at six singles, Shelbayh secured his first ranked dual match win of the year with a straight-set victory over No. 104 Jan Soren Hain, 6-1, 6-3.
Florida came out even stronger against the Bulldogs as the team only dropped one set in singles during the match. Again, the Gators were firing in doubles, picking up wins at courts two and three from Andrade/Siimar and Vale/Nate Bonetto. Then, the Orange & Blue completed the sweep with six singles wins. Both Shelton and Riffice tallied ranked victories on the day, while Will Grant collected his second dual match singles win at court six. Goodger picked up his second victory at court five in as many matches, pushing his singles win total to double-digits on the season.
The Gators have now won the doubles point in nine consecutive matches after this weekend. In singles, Shelton has won nine matches in a row, collecting seven top-25 wins in the process. Riffice is also on a seven-match win streak, with four of those coming against ranked opponents. In the Ole Miss match, the Riffice/Shelton tandem defeated the No. 2 team in the country and won four consecutive matches against ranked teams prior to their loss on Sunday afternoon to the Mississippi State pair.
The Andrade and Siimar duo continue to stay hot at the No. 2 doubles spot, totaling five doubles wins together, four of those clinching the doubles point, in the month of March. Siimar, a doubles All-American, is now two wins away from reaching the 100 career doubles wins milestone.
Vale, who is on a four-match win streak in singles, keeps moving up in the record book. With his wins this week, he is now tied for 6th all-time in career overall wins with 190 (103 singles, 87 doubles), sits at eighth in career singles wins with 103 and is tied for seventh in career doubles victories with 87. The winningest singles player in program history, Andrade, also sits in the top-10 of the career overall wins category at eighth with 186 total wins (126 singles, 60 doubles).
The ITA announced team and individual rankings on Wednesday, and the Gators, who are now the sole leaders at the top of the SEC standings, have three doubles teams ranked and are tied with Texas with the most singles players on the list at six.
Boasting a 24-3 overall singles record and 13-2 dual match record, Shelton remains at the No. 1 spot. He remains a perfect 7-0 at court one since his debut there on March 4. Riffice comes in next with a huge 30-spot jump to No. 26. The captain has won seven matches in a row, six in straight-sets, at No. 2 singles, and is also undefeated at the court with a 7-0 record. Andrade is staying steady at No. 93 after going 2-1 this past week at four singles, including a ranked win against No. 117 Hunter Heck of Illinois. The senior has a 19-8 singles record and is 11-4 in dual match play.
Goodger, who made an appearance at court five in both SEC matches last week, picked up two solid wins, pushing his overall total to 10 on the year and finding him a spot at No. 120. Closing out the rankings is Siimar, who landed right behind Goodger at No. 121. Siimar only saw time in doubles play last week, but has put together a solid resume at five singles with two ranked wins.
In doubles, the Riffice/Shelton pairing made their debut at No. 11 after winning four matches in a row against ranked competition, including a victory over the No. 2 duo from Ole Miss. Andrade and Mattias moved up to No. 27 from the No. 54 spot. The duo has been strong at the No. 2 spot, boasting a 7-2 record at the court with three ranked wins together. Lastly, the pairing of Shelbayh and Siimar round out the doubles rankings at No. 47.
Scouting the Opponent
Arkansas comes into Friday's match with a 10-8 overall record and a 1-4 conference record. The Razorbacks, who are 9-3 at home this season, only have two wins all-time against the Gators in 34 matches. Florida last faced Arkansas on March 26 of last year and put together a 7-0 sweep of their opponent.
So far, the Razorbacks have collected wins notable wins over Alabama and No. 25 Auburn. They also have losses against Mississippi State, Tulsa, UCF, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Georgia. In the rankings, Razorback Aleksa Bucan sits at No. 67 while Alexandre Reco is ranked 107th.
Opponents in the rankings
Singles
No. 67 Aleksa Bucan
No. 107 Alexandre Reco
Gators in the rankings
Singles
No. 1 Ben Shelton
No. 26 Sam Riffice
No. 93 Andy Andrade
No. 98 Duarte Vale
No. 120 Josh Goodger
No. 121 Mattias Siimar
Doubles
No. 11 Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton
No. 27 Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar
No. 47 Abedallah Shelbayh/Mattias Siimar
FOLLOW ALONG
There are multiple ways to follow along with Friday's match.
Cracked Racquets and the SEC Network announced a partnership for Redzone coverage on all Friday matches for the remainder of the season. The link to watch these broadcasts can be found here.
The match is also available to watch on PlaySight, while fans can also follow the live stats link during the matches.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Florida is coming off an undefeated 3-0 week, which saw the team only lose one total point in their matches as they swept both No. 69 Illinois and No. 28 Mississippi State, 7-0, and beat No. 31 Ole Miss by a 6-1 score.
Against the Rebels, the Gators picked up two quick wins in doubles from the teams of Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton and Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar at courts one and two, respectively. The team also saw wins from Shelton, Riffice, Duarte Vale, Josh Goodger and Abedallah Shelbayh in singles. In his match at six singles, Shelbayh secured his first ranked dual match win of the year with a straight-set victory over No. 104 Jan Soren Hain, 6-1, 6-3.
Florida came out even stronger against the Bulldogs as the team only dropped one set in singles during the match. Again, the Gators were firing in doubles, picking up wins at courts two and three from Andrade/Siimar and Vale/Nate Bonetto. Then, the Orange & Blue completed the sweep with six singles wins. Both Shelton and Riffice tallied ranked victories on the day, while Will Grant collected his second dual match singles win at court six. Goodger picked up his second victory at court five in as many matches, pushing his singles win total to double-digits on the season.
The Gators have now won the doubles point in nine consecutive matches after this weekend. In singles, Shelton has won nine matches in a row, collecting seven top-25 wins in the process. Riffice is also on a seven-match win streak, with four of those coming against ranked opponents. In the Ole Miss match, the Riffice/Shelton tandem defeated the No. 2 team in the country and won four consecutive matches against ranked teams prior to their loss on Sunday afternoon to the Mississippi State pair.
The Andrade and Siimar duo continue to stay hot at the No. 2 doubles spot, totaling five doubles wins together, four of those clinching the doubles point, in the month of March. Siimar, a doubles All-American, is now two wins away from reaching the 100 career doubles wins milestone.
Vale, who is on a four-match win streak in singles, keeps moving up in the record book. With his wins this week, he is now tied for 6th all-time in career overall wins with 190 (103 singles, 87 doubles), sits at eighth in career singles wins with 103 and is tied for seventh in career doubles victories with 87. The winningest singles player in program history, Andrade, also sits in the top-10 of the career overall wins category at eighth with 186 total wins (126 singles, 60 doubles).
The ITA announced team and individual rankings on Wednesday, and the Gators, who are now the sole leaders at the top of the SEC standings, have three doubles teams ranked and are tied with Texas with the most singles players on the list at six.
Boasting a 24-3 overall singles record and 13-2 dual match record, Shelton remains at the No. 1 spot. He remains a perfect 7-0 at court one since his debut there on March 4. Riffice comes in next with a huge 30-spot jump to No. 26. The captain has won seven matches in a row, six in straight-sets, at No. 2 singles, and is also undefeated at the court with a 7-0 record. Andrade is staying steady at No. 93 after going 2-1 this past week at four singles, including a ranked win against No. 117 Hunter Heck of Illinois. The senior has a 19-8 singles record and is 11-4 in dual match play.
Goodger, who made an appearance at court five in both SEC matches last week, picked up two solid wins, pushing his overall total to 10 on the year and finding him a spot at No. 120. Closing out the rankings is Siimar, who landed right behind Goodger at No. 121. Siimar only saw time in doubles play last week, but has put together a solid resume at five singles with two ranked wins.
In doubles, the Riffice/Shelton pairing made their debut at No. 11 after winning four matches in a row against ranked competition, including a victory over the No. 2 duo from Ole Miss. Andrade and Mattias moved up to No. 27 from the No. 54 spot. The duo has been strong at the No. 2 spot, boasting a 7-2 record at the court with three ranked wins together. Lastly, the pairing of Shelbayh and Siimar round out the doubles rankings at No. 47.
Scouting the Opponent
Arkansas comes into Friday's match with a 10-8 overall record and a 1-4 conference record. The Razorbacks, who are 9-3 at home this season, only have two wins all-time against the Gators in 34 matches. Florida last faced Arkansas on March 26 of last year and put together a 7-0 sweep of their opponent.
So far, the Razorbacks have collected wins notable wins over Alabama and No. 25 Auburn. They also have losses against Mississippi State, Tulsa, UCF, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Georgia. In the rankings, Razorback Aleksa Bucan sits at No. 67 while Alexandre Reco is ranked 107th.
Opponents in the rankings
Singles
No. 67 Aleksa Bucan
No. 107 Alexandre Reco
Gators in the rankings
Singles
No. 1 Ben Shelton
No. 26 Sam Riffice
No. 93 Andy Andrade
No. 98 Duarte Vale
No. 120 Josh Goodger
No. 121 Mattias Siimar
Doubles
No. 11 Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton
No. 27 Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar
No. 47 Abedallah Shelbayh/Mattias Siimar
FOLLOW ALONG
There are multiple ways to follow along with Friday's match.
Cracked Racquets and the SEC Network announced a partnership for Redzone coverage on all Friday matches for the remainder of the season. The link to watch these broadcasts can be found here.
The match is also available to watch on PlaySight, while fans can also follow the live stats link during the matches.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Players Mentioned
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