Florida’s men’s tennis team had not received an individual honor since February 2012, but that changed on Wednesday.
Florent Diep was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Week after beating 50th-ranked Malte Stropp of Mississippi State and No. 84 William Kallberg of Ole Miss this past weekend.
Diep looks to continue his successful run when No. 17 Florida (12-9, 5-5 SEC) hosts No. 8 Kentucky (19-8, 6-4 SEC) today and No. 13 Vanderbilt (15-7, 6-4 SEC) on Sunday.
“Hopefully it’s a good weekend for me,” Diep said.
Florida is 3-3 against conference foes that are ranked in the top 15 this season.
Coach Bryan Shelton said the difficulty of SEC play is great preparation for an eventual postseason run.
“We know the SEC conference is tough,” Shelton said. “When you look at the results and see that almost any team can beat any team on any given day.”
Winning the conference is out of reach, but Florida has an opportunity to boost its ranking.
Senior Bob van Overbeek was perfect against Bethune-Cookman on Wednesday, sweeping singles play 6-0, 6-0. He is 4-1 at the No. 3 position.
Van Overbeek said the team’s focus is hosting NCAA regional.
Last season, the team was one of 16 regional hosts. As a 12 seed, the team won both of its games at home before losing in the quarterfinals against Ohio State in Athens, Ga. “The SEC regular season is sort of out of the way now, in terms of winning it,” van Overbeek said. “Now, it’s time to go out there and try to get some extra wins and get our ranking high enough so we can host an NCAA regional.” Finding consistent success in doubles will be critical in earning an NCAA Regional in Gainesville. UF has no victories when it loses the doubles point. Against Bethune-Cookman, Florida showed its capabilities in doubles, allowing only five total points on three courts.
“You want to go into the SEC Tournament with some momentum and having two great teams come into our place in Kentucky and Vanderbilt it’s a great way to finish out our regular season, Shelton said. “If we are ready to play, I think we have a good chance of being successful this weekend and parlaying that into a great SEC Tournament.”
Junior Florent Diep strikes the ball during Florida’s 5-2 victory against Miami on Jan. 19 at Linder Stadium.
