The Florida men’s tennis team is back in Virginia today to participate in the ITA Team Indoor Championships.
The tournament will be held on the very indoor courts in which the Gators experienced their first loss of the season, falling on Saturday to No. 1 Virginia.
For UF coach Bryan Shelton, the experience of losing, as disappointing as it is, proved both formative and beneficial for his team heading into ITA Indoors.
“We know what to expect,” said Shelton. “I think in our preparation we know what the court surface is like, the speed of the building. We definitely have a comfort level with that going back now.”
Despite having increased comfort on the surface, change is necessary for the Gators.
Saturday’s match against UVA marked the third match in a row in which Florida lost the doubles point.
“We’re going to mix up the teams at two and three,” said Shelton. “Josh Wardell is going to come in and play some for us this week. Then we’re looking to possibly someone with Elliott (Orkin) at the number three spot.”
The new pairings in doubles look to load the Gators with experience.
Wardell, a redshirt-junior, will combine with senior Maxx Lipman in the number two spot, while Orkin, a senior and team captain himself, will likely pair up with Chase Perez-Blanco or Jordan Belga, both of whom are juniors.
“They both know what we’re looking for in our system and how to combine well,” said Shelton. “(They) have been through the wars, and I’m confident in those guys to step up big for us.”
However, changes will not be limited to doubles.
Freshman Johannes Ingildsen has been on a tear, playing himself into a bigger role on the singles roster.
The Copenhagen native holds the best singles record on the team over the Fall-Spring stretch at 17-4 and is coming off a big individual victory over Virginia’s Alexander Ritschard.
Ingildsen will move to the number four spot, pushing sophomore McClain Kessler back to five.
The other potential change for the Gators comes at the six spot. Normally held by Lipman, the senior may be switched in and out with Belga.
“We treat this tournament as an important tournament, but it’s not the most important tournament we’re going to play this year,” said Shelton. “The SEC schedule is the most important thing to us. So we’re going to mix it up a little bit there and hopefully that’ll give us some clarity moving forward on what we need to do.”
Contact Mark Stine at mstine@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @mstinejr.
UF men's tennis coach Bryan Shelton looks on during Florida's 4-2 win against UCLA on Feb. 5, 2017, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
