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Friday, March 29, 2024
<p dir="ltr"><span>Junior Johannes Ingildsen is slotted at No. 11 on the ITA preseason singles rankings list.</span></p><p><span> </span></p>

Junior Johannes Ingildsen is slotted at No. 11 on the ITA preseason singles rankings list.

 

The Florida men’s tennis team will begin its season two weeks later than expected.

The Gators were originally scheduled to participate in the 50k Challenger the week of Sept. 8-16, but failure to pre-qualify barred the team from competing.

The pending threat from Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas forced the cancellation of the Duke James Bonk Invite this past weekend. Eight UF players are slated to begin their seasons in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the UVA Invite, starting on Sept. 21.

The double-elimination tournament in Virginia, which will be held at the Snyder Tennis Center, will feature some of the top programs from around the nation including Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons boast the No. 1 singles player in the country in senior Petros Chrysochos and have two other top-100 players. Wake Forest also finished the 2017-2018 season ranked No. 1 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s National Team Ranking. The Virginia Cavaliers also have elite talent with junior Carl Soderlund earning a No. 9 ranking in singles and three other players within the top 125.

Schedules and draws for the tournament have yet to be released, but the competitors for Florida will be freshmen Sam Riffice and Lukas Greif; sophomores Andy Andrade, Brian Berdusco, Oliver Crawford and Duarte Vale; junior Johannes Ingildsen and senior McClain Kessler.

Freshman brothers, and Gainesville natives, Harrison and Greysen Cacciatore will not travel with the team to Virginia. They will instead compete in the South Carolina Fall Invite.

The Oracle and Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason rankings were released last week, and eight UF players were ranked in the top 100.

Ingildsen led the way with a No. 11 ranking followed by Crawford at No. 23, Vale at No. 57 and Andrade claiming the final spot at No. 100.

Florida also has four doubles teams ranked including Ingildsen and Berdusco at No. 24. Kessler and Riffice come in at No. 38, Vale and Greif at No. 41 and Crawford and Andrade just behind at No. 44. Riffice also earned the top spot on the ITA Freshman-Newcomer ranking.

A wildcard bid is up for grabs this weekend which will earn the singles winner a qualifying spot in the Charlottesville 7k Challenger beginning Oct. 27. This will be the first action for the Gators since late May when their season came to an end at the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championships for Singles and Doubles.

Several players within the program have said that this team has what it takes to contend for a national championship. In the Gators’ first meaningful play since late spring, the early returns on those claims will be tested.

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You can follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood or contact him at kwood@alligator.org. 

 

Junior Johannes Ingildsen is slotted at No. 11 on the ITA preseason singles rankings list.

 

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