It had been 33 days since the Gators last lost a match.
They extended that streak to 34 days after their win over Kentucky on Saturday.
Florida defeated Kentucky 7-0 at the Boone Tennis Center in Lexington, Kentucky, to stay unbeaten in SEC play and win its ninth in a row. The Gators shut out an opponent for the second match in a row; they beat Vanderbilt 7-0 on Thursday at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville. The win brought No. 4 Florida to a 15-2 record and a 7-0 start in SEC play.
For the third straight match, UF took the doubles point. Sophomore Oliver Crawford and freshman Sam Riffice were the first to win, beating Kentucky’s Kento Yamada and Ryo Matsumura 6-3. This was the third consecutive win for the duo.
Sophomore Duarte Vale and senior McClain Kessler won on Court 1, winning 6-4 to clinch the point for the Gators
Florida got off to another excellent start in singles as well, winning the first set on all six courts.
Vale was the first to clinch a match, besting Theo McDonald on Court 6, 6-1, 6-0. The native of Cascais, Portugal, is 5-0 in SEC play and has won his last six singles matches. This year has been a nice recovery for Vale. He struggled last year and finished with a singles record of 5-11.
No. 97 Johannes Ingildsen was the next to win, defeating Cesare Bourgois 6-2, 6-3 in straight sets on Court 4.
The match was clinched by sophomore No. 29 Andy Andrade. He clinched against Vanderbilt and did so again Saturday, beating Yamada 6-3, 6-4 on Court 3.
Crawford, Riffice, and freshman Lukas Greif all got wins afterward to complete the sweep for the Gators. No. 15 Crawford only needed two sets (7-6, 6-2) to defeat Matsumura, despite No. 36 Matsumura being the highest-ranked singles player on the Wildcats (9-10).
No. 51 Riffice was the only Gator who needed three sets to beat his opponent. He won his match against Vandy 6-0, 6-0. Nevertheless, he defeated Enzo Wallart 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 to finish off the sweep.
This is the Gators’ best SEC start under coach Bryan Shelton and their best SEC start since 2010, where they also started 7-0 and finished second in SEC play.
Follow Noah Ram on Twitter @noah_ram1 and contact him at nram@alligator.org.
Sophomore Andy Andrade clinched the match on Saturday, and the No. 4 Gators topped Kentucky 7-0 at the Boone Tennis Center.
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.
