The Gators men’s tennis team is tied for the highest-ranked team in their respective sport at UF.
It is ranked No. 3 and has won 13 matches in a row. It is 19-2 overall and 11-0 in SEC play. That’s its best start since 2005, which was the last time it won the SEC regular-season championship until it clinched at least a share of the title with the 6-1 win over Auburn on Sunday.
Florida can now win the sole crown if it beats South Carolina this Sunday.
The Gators are on pace to have their best regular-season finish since 1977. That was the most recent time they finished the season with less than four losses.
Despite all of this season’s accomplishments, one thing has plagued them: doubles play.
UF is 14-7 when it comes to the doubles point this season. While that may not sound terrible, it’s not great for a team that has as recently as March 5 had a pair, junior Johannes Ingildsen and sophomore Brian Berdusco, ranked in the top 10. In the Gators’ loss to then-No. 5 USC at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 15, winning the doubles point would have made the difference as UF fell 4-3.
Florida couldn’t take the doubles point against any of the four highest-ranked teams it has played. It lost the doubles point to then-No. 10 Mississippi State, then-No. 2 Wake Forest and then-No. 7 Texas A&M. In all of those matches, and the other three matches against FAU, Tennessee and LSU where the doubles point was lost, the Gators recovered thanks to their sensational singles play.
It’s hard to overstate how good Florida has been in singles. You’d have to go back to Feb. 17, the last time the Gators lost a match, to then-No. 10 Stanford, to find when they lost more than two of the six singles matches they played in.
Singles play is led by No. 11 sophomore Oliver Crawford, who could leave to go pro after the season. Crawford is 13-7, and that is all from the No. 1 spot. That means he has beaten the top player on opposing teams, including a win over then-No. 2 Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest on March 13.
Other players highlighting the effort for UF include No. 47 freshman Sam Riffice, who is 17-3 and has won 11 matches in a row, and No. 96 sophomore Duarte Vale, who is 12-1 this season and has 10 wins in a row. Both players are also undefeated in conference play.
In regards to doubles, Riffice is confident that the Gators will improve before the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
“We’ve struggled a little bit with that, especially recently,” he said. “But we’ve been putting in a lot of work, so I know we’ll improve.”
Follow Noah Ram on Twitter @noah_ram1 and contact him at nram@alligator.org.
Sophomore Oliver Crawford has a 13-7 record in singles play this season.
Noah is a third year journalism-sports and media student from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has been with The Alligator since Spring 2019 and has covered men’s and women’s tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. When he isn’t on his beat, Noah is usually sadden over his beloved South Florida sports teams, such as the Heat and Dolphins.
