Gators Men’s Tennis Earn Regular Season SEC Title

The number one ranked Florida Gators Men’s tennis team are the regular season SEC champions. First-ranked Florida (17-1, 11-0) hosted and defeated 22nd-ranked Kentucky (15-6, 5-5), 5-2 on Sunday.

https://twitter.com/GatorsMTN/status/1378778570949074944

Recap

The day started off with a doubles win for Kentucky.

Doubles Results: 1, 3, 2
1. #20 Cesar Bourgois/Gabriel Diallo (UK) def. #16 Will Grant/Johannes Ingildsen (UF) 7-5
2. Millen Hurrion/Liam Draxl (UK) def. Josh Goodger/Duarte Vale (UF) 7-6 (9-7)
3. Andy Andrade/Ben Shelton (UF) def. Alexandre Leblanc/Joshua Lapadat (UK) 7-5

Yet, the Gators would come out swinging for singles play. With Vale, Shelton and Bicknell winning the first three matches in two sets each. In those six sets, UK only won 12 of the 48 games.

The SEC championship clinching match was won by Josh Goodger. After dropping the first set 6-0, Goodger stormed back in dominating fashion, winning the next two sets 6-3, each.

https://twitter.com/GatorsMTN/status/1378853981007572994

Although this sequence won the title for Florida, Sam Riffice finished off a three set win to make the day even more successful for the Gators, winning five of the six single matches.

Singles Results: 1, 4, 5, 3, 6, 2
1. #3 Duarte Vale (UF) def. #7 Liam Draxl (UK) 6-2, 6-2
2. #17 Sam Riffice (UF) def. #31 Gabriel Diallo (UK) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
3. #60 Millen Hurrion (UK) def. #8 Andy Andrade (UF) 6-3, 6-3
4. #34 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. #97 Joshua Lapadat (UK) 6-3, 6-0
5. Ben Shelton (UF) def. Yasha Zemel (UK) 6-1, 6-4
6. #94 Josh Goodger (UF) def. Alexandre Leblanc (UK) 0-6, 6-3, 6-3

 

Impressive Stats

Although there is still a national championship run in mind for Florida, it is worth discussing how impressive Gators men’s tennis has been up to this point.

• This is the program’s 10th regular season conference championship and second under head coach Bryan Shelton
• Ranked number one in the country
• Won 14-straight matches
• Have a home record of 10-0 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex
• Won 25-consecutive SEC regular season home matches dating back to March 5 of 2017, a conference record
  • UF is 55-5 at home since the 2017 season began.

This was also The University of Florida’s 250th conference championship all-time in sports. The school has earned at least one SEC team title in 43 consecutive seasons.

The best #VictoryMonday yet. 😁#GatorsMTN #GoGators 🐊🎾 pic.twitter.com/ovHMkXLDgG

— Gators Men's Tennis (@GatorsMTN) April 5, 2021

What’s Next

Florida will travel to South Carolina (12-7, 7-4) for a regular season finale against the Gamecocks on Apr. 9. The Gators will attempt to finish the season undefeated in conference play.

The SEC Tournament will take place Apr. 19-23.