No. 1 Florida Hosts No. 38 LSU, No. 41 Vanderbilt this Week

Friday, April 1

Gainesville, Fla.

5 PM

Florida Gators

LSU

No. 1 Florida Hosts No. 38 LSU, No. 41 Vanderbilt this Week

Thursday, March 31, 2022 | Men's Tennis

Match Notes Live Video Live Stats Cracked Racquets Redzone Broadcast

By: Casey Montalvo

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The newly-ranked No. 1 Florida Gators men's tennis team is back at home this week with two conference matches on deck. First, the Gators (15-2, 7-0 SEC) take on the No. 38-ranked LSU Tigers (13-6, 3-4 SEC) this Friday, April 1 at 5 p.m. Then, on Sunday afternoon, Florida welcomes No. 41 Vanderbilt (14-6, 2-5 SEC) to the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex for a 1 p.m. matchup.

Last week, Florida faced one opponent in No. 55 Arkansas, pulling out the 6-1 victory to remain undefeated in conference play. The Gators easily won the doubles point as No. 11 Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton defeated Alex Reco and Nico Rousset, 6-3, at court one, and the No. 27 duo of Andy Andrade and Mattias Siimar beat Adrien Burdet and Melvin Manuel, 6-2, on court two. The Gators tandem of Nate Bonetto and Duarte Vale were also up 5-2 at No. 3 doubles when the doubles point was clinched.

In singles, Florida only dropped one match on the day. Both No. 1 Shelton and Bonetto collected ranked wins as Shelton overtook No. 107 Reco at court one, 7-6 (6), 6-4, and Bonetto defeated No. 67 Aleksa Bucan, 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-2, for his first ranked win of the dual season. In addition, No. 26 Riffice, No. 93 Andrade and No. 120 Josh Goodger all picked up victories at their respective courts.

The Gators are on a 10-match win streak dating back to Feb. 19 and have not lost in the month of March heading into this week's contests. In addition, Florida has also won 10 doubles points in a row, pushing their total to 13 matches (of a possible 17) where the Gators have claimed the doubles point advantage.

Not only is the team on a win streak, but a few Gators have been dominant with their play as of late.

The No. 1-ranked player in the country continues to win at court one as he remains undefeated at the spot since his debut there on March 4. Shelton is on a 10-match win streak as well, with eight ranked victories. His two other wins in this time period were against players who advanced to the Round of 16 or better in the 2021 NCAA Singles Championships. His longest win streak this year is 11 matches (Sept. 11 to Oct. 10, 2021), which ended with him becoming the first Gator to win the ITA All-American Singles Championships.

Riffice, who is ranked 26^th by the ITA, is on an eight-match win streak of his own. In these eight matches, Riffice has won seven in straight-sets. He remains an undefeated 8-0 not only in conference play, but at the No. 2 singles spot.

Both Riffice and Shelton are also getting it done in doubles play as the No. 11-ranked tandem have won five of their last six matches at No. 1 doubles, with four wins coming against ranked opponents.

Also in doubles, the No. 27 pairing of Andrade and Mattias Siimar posted eight wins, four against ranked teams, in their last 10 matches at court two. Siimar is also just one win away from the 100 career doubles victories milestone. Bonetto and Duarte Vale are also 5-1 on the dual season since being paired together. In their eight matches together, the duo has five wins and only one loss.

Scouting the Opponents
Florida and LSU have met 64 times in program history, with the Gators holding a 35-28-1 advantage. In both team's last meeting on Feb. 26, 2021, Florida prevailed with a 7-0 sweep over the Tigers.

LSU has wins against Purdue, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Tulsa. The Tigers have also lost to Tennessee, South Carolina, Auburn and Mississippi State. In the rankings, LSU jumped a couple spots to No. 38 and also have a player ranked in the top 25 as Ronnie Hohmann sits at No. 23.

Vanderbilt comes into this weekend with 14 wins on the season. The Gators and the Commodores have faced each other 57 times as Florida boasts an impressive 46-10-1 lead over Vanderbilt. The two teams last met on April 2, 2021 as the Gators pulled out a close, 4-3, victory.

The Commodores have wins over Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Arkansas and Northwestern, while collected losses against Kentucky, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia and Harvard. In the individual rankings, the Commodores have a player ranked in singles as George Harwell is No. 44 on the list, and a team ranked in doubles with the duo of Michael Ross and Siim Troost checking in at No. 80. Vanderbilt will face No. 10 South Carolina on Friday before heading to Gainesville on Sunday.

Opponents in the rankings
Singles
LSU
No. 23 Ronnie Hohmann

Vanderbilt
No. 44 George Harwell

Doubles
Vanderbilt
No. 80 Michael Ross/Siim Troost

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

PARKING / WEATHER / ATTENDANCE
Parking restrictions for only the green lot next to the complex will be lifted for the match.

In the event of inclement weather, the match will be moved indoors where attendance is limited. Seats indoors will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Live stats and live video will not be available at the indoor facility, so all stat updates will come from GatorsMTN Twitter.

Admission into the event is free. Fans in attendance will receive posters and schedule fans while supplies last.

FOLLOW ALONG
There are multiple ways to follow along with the matches this weekend.

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.

All home Florida matches are available to watch on PlaySight, while fans can also follow the live stats link on Sidearm during the matches.

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