Florida will look to defend The Swamp this weekend in back-to-back matchups against FAU starting on Sat. at 1 p.m.
This will be the only meeting of the regular season between the teams. FAU is unranked after coming off a 5-11 season that ended in a six-game losing streak. The season was canceled shortly after due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida will feature five athletes who rank in the top 125 singles players. The roster includes junior Sam Riffice at No. 8, senior Duarte Vale at No. 12, sophomore Blaise Bicknell at No. 68, senior Andy Andrade at No. 85 and junior Lukas Greif at No. 96.
Riffice and Vale will be competing in doubles Saturday, walking onto the courts at No. 45. The two have a 29-8 doubles record and will look to build on a chemistry that hasn’t been seen too much.
The Gators will aim to build on last year’s success, where they finished with a 15-3 overall record.
But FAU returns eight players, including singles standout Maxime Lapraille. Lapraille, ranked at No. 122, is FAU’s leader this season. In 2020, he was named C-USA’s Men’s Tennis Co-Newcomer of the Year and earned All-Conference second team. However, the junior encountered a late-season slump, where he lost five of his last seven singles matchups.
Florida is ranked at No. 9, the highest rank in the SEC, edging out No. 10 Georgia and No. 11 Texas A&M.
The matches will be available to stream on floridagators.com.
Contact Jesse Richardson at jrichardson@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @JesseRich352
