Florida finished its dual season with a two game win streak.
Next stop, the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
The No. 6 seed Gators sit 8-4 in SEC play in the 2014-2015 season and make their way to the SEC tournament to face the 11th-seeded Kentucky Wildcats today at 10 a.m.
The Gators defeated the Wildcats 4-1 in the regular season on Friday.
Coach Bryan Shelton has preached consistency throughout the season and said he was glad to see improvement in the Gators last weekend before the tournament.
“I feel like our team is rounding into form and playing better and better,” Shelton said. “The consistency is there in singles. Even in some of the losses in singles we’ve had this year I felt like it hasn’t came down to us not competing well, executing is a different thing and it was nice to see us execute both on Friday and again on Sunday.”
Shelton has used six different lineups in the last eight matches of the regular season.
Although the lineup continues to change, Shelton considers the situation to be an advantage rather than a drawback.
“We will be able to go look over the video tapes the next couple of days of (the previous) match and see the things we did well and areas we’ve to improve on as we play them again come Thursday,” Shelton said.
Despite the lack of continuity, the Gators continue to use their ultimate threat: the underclassman.
Of Florida’s 13 victories this season, a sophomore or freshman has clinched nine of the wins.
Sophomore Elliott Orkin, who has gathered 12 points thus far this season, has clinched three of them.
Shelton is impressed with the underclassmen’s work this season and is looking to see how they progress in the biggest tournament they have played this year.
“They have to continue on with what they are doing,” Shelton said. “For our guys, it’s understand their game plan, understanding what they’ve got to do to be affective and where they have been effective this year so learn from their experiences before, both good and bad and when they are faced with stuff in the tournament they will be prepared.”
Shelton is looking for the underclassmen to continue their exceptional level of play, and he hopes the team’s juniors and seniors follow in their footsteps.
“They’ve got to lead,” Shelton said. “Lead by example. They will know because we’ve been in this situation before… because we were in the finals of the SEC tournament, we have four of those guys back and they know what it felt like to get there and they also know what it felt like to lose that championship match.”
Follow Caylee Underwood on Twitter @CayUnderwood
Elliott Orkin returns a ball during Florida's 9-3 win against William & Mary on Saturday at the Ring Tennis Complex.
