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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-22c75aee-7fff-538c-121d-0c1aba5d434d"><span id="docs-internal-guid-22c75aee-7fff-538c-121d-0c1aba5d434d">UF men's tennis coach Bryan Shelton said he was proud of the way his team fought through adversity in its 4-1 win over Florida State.&nbsp;</span></span></p>

UF men's tennis coach Bryan Shelton said he was proud of the way his team fought through adversity in its 4-1 win over Florida State. 

There was still a feeling of shock around the Florida men’s tennis team, even an hour after its 4-3 loss to Tennessee.

Freshman Sam Riffice entered the press room visibly shaken, and it seemed like he hadn’t come to grips with the loss.

This was a team that was on a 15-match winning streak and hadn’t lost since Feb. 17 to then-No. 10 Stanford. It was undefeated outdoors this season and at home over the last 13 months. It was undefeated against SEC opponents, a perfect 13-0.

The loss left two main questions the Gators need to answer after their defeat to the Volunteers on Saturday at home in the SEC Tournament Semifinals.

How did the singles collapse happen?

This is a question Riffice and sophomore Andy Andrade will think about for the next couple of days.

Saturday’s match started in a similar way to some of Florida’s matches against other top teams: by losing the doubles point.

It brought Florida (21-3) to 16-8 in doubles on the season, and it has yet to beat a team ranked in the top 13. It was also the Gators’ second time losing in doubles to Tennessee (20-7). The Volunteers won the point on March 17 before Florida ultimately ended up winning the match 5-2.

It seemed like singles would go in a similar way on Saturday. UF won the first three matches to go ahead 3-1 and needed one more win to clinch. Tennessee made it 3-2 with a two-set win on Court 3, but it still seemed like the Gators would get the win.

Riffice and Andrade were both ahead. Andrade was up 5-3 in the third set but lost four straight games to lose 7-5. Riffice was tied 5-5 and was serving, but Tennessee’s Adam Walton broke serve and won the match 7-5. This was the first time since the Stanford match that Florida lost three singles contests.

It seemed that when the pressure ramped up, Florida couldn’t handle it and made unforced errors. Andrade’s shot in the match didn’t even make it over the net and Riffice double-faulted when ahead 4-3 to tie the match at 4.

What changes will the team make?

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Coach Bryan Shelton was quick to say some changes will be made, despite it only being one loss.

“We might stretch some practices out a little longer at times,” Shelton said following the defeat. “We have kind of decreased the amount of time we have spent on the court, so we may up that in the next week.”

Shelton also said the team has to be ready for the heat that will hit Gainesville once the NCAAs start.

“We have to continue to get used to playing in the heat,” he said. “When those northern teams come down here, we want to be ready for them to deal with the humidity in the swamp.”

With two weeks until the NCAA Tournament begins, Shelton is not changing the focus.

“Overall the message will still be the same,” he said. “We’ve got to get better, we have to be willing to go deeper.”

Follow Noah Ram on Twitter @noah_ram1 and contact him at nram@alligator.org.

UF men's tennis coach Bryan Shelton said some changes may be made following his team's loss to Tennessee in the SEC tournament.

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Noah Ram

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.


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