The Florida men’s tennis team is SEC regular season champions and undefeated in conference play for the first time since 2003, a 14-match winning streak and their best regular season record since 1977.
It can add one more accolade to that resume this weekend by winning the SEC Tournament.
The No. 3 Gators will be playing part in the SEC Tournament this weekend at home. The 13-team tournament began on Wednesday at home and will conclude with the final on Sunday. UF is looking to improve on its 4-2 semifinal loss to Mississippi State in last year’s tournament.
UF will play its first match on Friday. The top-seeded Gators received a bye into the quarterfinals. Florida will take on No. 21 and ninth-seeded Alabama at noon. It has already beaten Alabama this season, defeating it 7-0 on April 5 on the road.
If UF can get by the Crimson Tide, its next opponent will be either the No. 17 and fifth-seeded Georgia or No. 13 and No. 4-seed Tennessee on Saturday.
Finally, if the Gators make it to the championship on Sunday, their most likely opponent will be No. 11 and No. 3-seeded Texas A&M or No. 6 and second-seeded Mississippi State.
The Gators enter the tournament as favorites due to their dominant singles play. They have five players ranked in the ITA top 100, led by No. 11 sophomore Oliver Crawford. No. 50 sophomore Andy Andrade and No. 52 freshman Sam Riffice have rotated through the No. 2 and No. 3 spots on the court. Riffice is on a 12-match winning streak and is 10-0 in SEC play. He is the first UF freshman since Jesse Levine in 2007 to finish conference play undefeated.
The back half of singles is controlled by No. 94 Duarte Vale. The sophomore is also undefeated in SEC and is in the midst of a 12-match winning streak. The Gators are 62-10 in singles matches and has only lost three on Courts 4-6.
Florida is looking to win the SEC Tournament for the sixth time. It last won the tournament in 2016 and it last hosted the tournament in 2011, when it also won.
Follow Noah Ram on Twitter @noah_ram1 and contact him at nram@alligator.org.
Sophomore Duarte Vale is undefeated in SEC play and is in on a 12-match winning streak.
Noah is a third year journalism-sports and media student from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has been with The Alligator since Spring 2019 and has covered men’s and women’s tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. When he isn’t on his beat, Noah is usually sadden over his beloved South Florida sports teams, such as the Heat and Dolphins.
