Coming off of a win against LSU, Florida is looking to continue its Southeastern Conference success when it travels to Starkville, Miss., today to take on Mississippi State.
Entering the weekend, the Gators (10-7, 5-3 SEC) have four nationally-ranked singles players, including No. 78 ranked sophomore Gordon Watson, No. 79 freshman Elliott Orkin, No. 81 senior Spencer Newman and No. 108 senior Florent Diep. The pairing of Watson and Orkin is Florida's lone ranked doubles team.
Florida lost to Mississippi State at home last year, 4-3.
“It’s a big match, but every SEC match is a big match,” coach Bryan Shelton said. “To go on the road, we know that we’re going to have to be sharp and we’re going to have to bring a lot of energy. When they were at our place last year, we lost that match at home and that was a tough one.”
UF would take MSU's (17-7, 6-3 SEC) third-place position in the conference with a win today.
“[MSU Head Coach] Per Nilsson does a great job of getting his guys ready to play,” Shelton said. “Emotionally, they’re probably the loudest group we’ll play all year … They’re very loud on the court and they play with a lot of energy, so we have to match that ourselves.”
Following the match against Mississippi State, Florida will return home to play a match against Ole Miss on Sunday. The match against the Rebels will be Senior Day for Florida, where it will honor Mike Alford and Diep before the 1 p.m. match.
The seniors came up big against each of this weekend's opponents last season, both winning a singles match in the loss against Mississippi State last year. Diep clinched the match against Ole Miss last season in a 4-1 upset.
Looking past this weekend, Shelton and his players are using the upcoming matches to help them improve in different areas individually and as a team.
“We’re going to use this weekend and the match at Mississippi State to not only get a W, but to get better at the same time,” he said.
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Elliott Orkin attempts to hit the ball during his singles match against UNF on Jan. 22.
