Following its first road win of the spring, the No. 9 UF men's tennis team returns to Gainesville as the best in the state.
The Gators' 5-2 victory over FSU on Tuesday was the latest addition to their dominance of Florida teams. The Seminoles joined Central Florida, South Florida and Miami on UF's victims list.
Today, the team meets a whole new beast. UF has its sights set on the entire southeast as it starts conference play against No. 11 Kentucky at 3 p.m.
The Gators (9-3, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) are one of six SEC teams ranked in the top 25. Coach Andy Jackson said any team can win on any given day.
"(Kentucky has) already been to Tennessee, who is No. 5, and won," Jackson said. "So it's going to be a big test, and we're looking forward to it."
The Wildcats bring the No. 2 singles player, Bruno Agostinelli, with them to Gainesville. UF's Carlos Cueto will likely meet him on Court 1. Cueto defeated a No. 2-ranked player - LSU's Michael Venus - at the SEC Indoor before the regular season began.
The Gators will get a day's rest before hosting Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. Sunday.
WOMEN PREP FOR SEC PLAY: The UF women have had it tough recently. In their loss at FSU, the Gators had only five scholarship players on the roster.
They've been through a brutal schedule and have been missing Megan Alexander on Court 3. The junior sat out the last four matches with a sore back.
They have lost four of their last six, three of which were at a 4-3 final score and all to top 25 opponents on the road.
Now they will have to claw their way back up the rankings after falling 18 spots from 13 to 31. And they'll have to do it against the SEC starting at 1 this afternoon in Kentucky.
The No. 14 Wildcats are unmercifully followed by Vanderbilt on Sunday. UF's conference schedule has the team playing the same opponent as the men on the same day at the opposite venue.
"We got a little taste of the indoors playing indoors (on Feb. 13-15), and more than likely those two will be indoors," coach Roland Thornqvist said. "Our players are confident now that they can make the transition. That was certainly accomplished up in Madison."
