Mike Alford and Florent Diep started the Florida men’s tennis team’s season on a high note on Monday.
The pair brought home the Gators’ first title after winning the Division I Doubles Title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Ga.
“We found a way to put it together,” Alford said. “It went well.”
Alford and Diep defeated Mississippi State’s Jordan Angus and Pedro Dumont 8-3 in the semifinals and then beat No. 43 Dominique and Yannick Maden of Clemson 8-5 to win the tournament.
“[Diep] and Mike did a great job of kind of battling through a couple of tough matches early,” coach Bryan Shelton said. “They found a way to win.”
The pair got better as the tournament went on, but Shelton acknowledged that the doubles team still has a lot of room to improve after this early-season tournament.
This tournament was the first for Shelton as Florida’s head coach. He previously coached the Georgia Tech women’s tennis team for 13 seasons.
“I don’t think there’s a ton of differences as far as coaching the players on the court,” Shelton said. “You’re always looking at game plans and how you prepare your athletes to go out there and compete.”
“It was good to be out there with the guys this weekend. Obviously a lot of fun to see Mike and [Diep] finish off the tournament by winning the championship.”
The Gators had six players compete in Athens this weekend, including No. 17 Bob van Overbeek. Van Overbeek advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Virginia Tech’s Andreas Bjerrehus in straight sets.
“His best tennis is still ahead of him,” Shelton said. “I expect him to get better every single week. …When he’s firing on all cylinders, he’s tough to deal with out there.”
Alford also advanced to the quarterfinals in singles play, where he fell to Gonzales Austin of Vanderbilt, 3-6, 6-3, 5-7.
Alford said the team needed to improve conditioning so they could go longer on the court without getting tired. According to Shelton, UF will spend more time on the track and in the pool to work on becoming a fitter team.
“We’ve identified those things and know that we’ve got to do a good job taking care of our bodies and getting ourselves to be able to go the distance,” Shelton said. “Going the distance is more than just one match, it’s being able to come back match after match after match.”
