After dropping back-to-back matches against No. 14 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Ohio State, the No. 18 Gators got their groove back in the Southeastern Conference.
Florida defeated Mississippi State 4-1 on Friday night and then came back Sunday afternoon to defeat Alabama 4-2.
Florida sits at 3-2 in conference and 8-5 overall and will take on the Arkansas Razorbacks, who just dropped their second SEC match to Ole Miss last Thursday in Oxford, Mississippi.
In UF’s 2013-14 season, Florida ended with an 18-10 overall record, with one of the losses coming at the hands of the Razorbacks.
Coach Bryan Shelton feels he may have been part of the reason Florida tasted defeat last season.
"I think it all comes down to your preparation," Shelton said. "Last year I had to look at myself in the mirror and say I didn’t do a great job at preparing our guys for that match but I also give them credit for how well they played last year. So this year we’re doing some things differently in our preparation. We’ll certainly go in there ready to go and I think we will really make sure our guys understand their game plans."
Although all three of the points earned last year were by returning players — Maxx Lipman, Diego Hidalgo and Elliot Orkin — this year’s lineup is almost completely different.
But Orkin has shown some of the most improvement across the board.
Orkin swept his opponent Sunday afternoon (6-0, 6-0) and Shelton believes he has only gotten better from last season and will have no problem with his matchup on Friday.
"He’s a tough kid, period," Shelton said. "It comes down again to his preparation, to putting your time in on the court and doing those things that a lot of people don’t see, he’s not the guy whose parading around telling you all the works he’s doing but he’s doing it in almost every area that you can see the guy has made improvements."
The Razorbacks return just one player who faced the Gators in its 2013-2014 season — sophomore Johan den Toom.
All but one of Florida’s victories began with a doubles point to set the pace for the Gators in each match.
Which can only mean one thing — clinching the doubles point is a key component of Florida’s success.
"We’ve really worked hard on our doubles play," Shelton said. "I felt like we had three teams out there who were competing well this weekend for us and we have had one (team), sometimes two (teams), but its been a bit of a challenge to get all three teams on the same page. Finally I think we’re in a good place there."
Follow Caylee Underwood on Twitter @CayUnderwood
Coach Bryan Shelton talks with sophomores Elliott Orkin and Maxx Lipman during Florida's 9-3 win against William & Mary on Jan. 10 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
