The No. 6 UF men’s tennis team will take to the skies this weekend, flying to Charlottesville, Virginia, to take on the No. 1-ranked Virginia Cavaliers.
The two sides will face off on Sunday at Virginia’s Snyder Tennis Center, an indoor facility that will host the ITA National Indoor Championships the following weekend.
And for the Gators, it’ll be their third straight matchup against a top-10 opponent.
“It’s nice with our schedule that we get to face a team like UVA this weekend,” Shelton said. “And we’re playing inside instead of outside. That changes things a little bit.”
The indoor surface is a little faster than typical hard court. Hitting quality serves, making quality points and getting an early lead have been extra areas of emphasis from Shelton that he hopes his team can use to its advantage in the unfamiliar conditions.
But while these tangible tactics will be vital for success against the Cavaliers, the intangibles will prove significant in this top-10 matchup as well.
Two players who possess these intangibles are sophomores Alfredo Perez and McClain Kessler.
For Perez, the intangible is raw talent.
The Havana, Cuba, native has firmly taken over the No. 1 singles spot for the Gators and is ranked as the No. 9 player in the country.
Perez is also a part of the country’s No. 3 doubles pair, so playing such high-quality competition in both singles and doubles has positively impacted Perez, Shelton said.
“He’s more composed on the court,” Shelton said. “He has more confidence in what he brings to the team.”
And for Kessler, aside from more talent, he brings energy. A lot of energy.
“It’s not just a match thing with him,” Shelton said. “I don’t know if he takes more sugar than anyone else or what, but the guy comes ready to go day in and day out.”
For a sophomore, Kessler has made a significant jump into the lineup for the Gators’ 2017 campaign.
As a freshman a season ago, Kessler played mainly in Florida’s sixth singles spot.
Now, Kessler plays in the four spot, as well as alongside senior captain Elliott Orkin in doubles.
“It’s a pretty big jump (for him),” Orkin said of his partner. “He’s someone that works his butt off, so to see the results paying off is awesome.”
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.
