Florida Men’s Tennis To Compete In SEC Tournament

After winning the 2021 NCAA Championships, the Gators men’s tennis team are coming in hot just in time for the 2022 SEC Tournament.

🗣 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞-𝗧𝗢-𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞-𝗧𝗢-𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞

For the 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱-𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 season, your Florida Gators are the @SEC regular season CHAMPIONS, clinching the title with a victory against Auburn 🔥#GoGators 🐊🎾 pic.twitter.com/LcgN1cTqf1

— Gators Men's Tennis (@GatorsMTN) April 10, 2022

The Florida Gators head to Athens, Georgia, to compete in the SEC Tournament Friday and Saturday. They will take on either the No. 8 Mississippi State Bulldogs or the No. 9 LSU Tigers.

Here’s how we stand in the rankings this week ⤵️#GoGators 🐊🎾 pic.twitter.com/oe5KZuWa14

— Gators Men's Tennis (@GatorsMTN) April 20, 2022

The Gators are 20-2 with an average of 75.532, having a five-point leg up over No. 4 Baylor while trailing behind No. 2 Ohio State by two points.

Florida’s Perfect SEC Record after Texas A&M Win

Florida is coming off a 5-2 win against No. 21 Texas A&M Sunday and are now 12-0 in the SEC. Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton kicked off the doubles matches against Aggies’ Noah Schachter and Kenner Taylor and took a 6-3 loss. The Gators recovered in the next two doubles, as Andy Andrade and Mattias Siimar beat Texas A&M 6-4 in the second match, and Nate Bonetto and Duarte Vale secured a 6-1 win.

https://twitter.com/GatorsMTN/status/1515857754627317761

The Gators dominated the singles, winning four of the six matches against the Aggies. Shelton beat Texas A&M’s Noah Schachter 6-2 and Andrade took out Aggie’s Giulio Perego.

Gators On The Court

Star-player Shelton is one singles match away from tying his 28-5 record set in the 2020-2021 season. In doing so, he will also tie his 10-2 SEC singles record. This season, he was recognized as an SEC Champion and was awarded SEC Player of the Week on March 9 and March 16. The sophomore also ranked No. 1 in the ITA singles March 9. It was his first time to win the accolade.

Freshman Bonetto is on the rise with a 20-5 record in overall singles and a 13-7 in overall doubles. He is a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week winner, receiving the reward Feb. 23 and March 9 of this season.

Coming Up

The Gators are set to compete in the NCAA Tournament in May. They start off with the NCAA Regionals May 6-7.

The live stats of the SEC tournament can be found here.