NCAA Mens Tennis

No. 21 Gators Host No. 5 Kentucky on Senior Day, Finish Regular Season at No. 9 South Carolina

No. 21 Gators Host No. 5 Kentucky on Senior Day, Finish Regular Season at No. 9 South Carolina


GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 21 Florida men’s tennis team rounds out the regular season facing a pair of top-10 SEC opponents for the second consecutive weekend in No. 5 Kentucky and No. 9 South Carolina.
 
Prior to Friday’s first serve at 5 p.m., Senior Day festivities will begin at 4:45 to recognize three Gators: Will Grant, Lukas Greif and Axel Nefve. The Gators will then head to Columbia, S.C. on Sunday for a 1 p.m. matchup with the Gamecocks.
 
Florida (13-10, 5-5 SEC) and Kentucky (20-4, 8-3 SEC) previously met this season at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Chicago, as the Wildcats took the match 4-1 indoors. This is back-to-back years the programs will meet twice in the same season, after the Gators won 4-3 in Lexington and 4-0 at the SEC Tournament in 2022. The Gators hold the 52-16 series advantage and are 9-2 under Bryan Shelton.
 

The Gators will travel to South Carolina (17-5, 6-4 SEC) for the first time since 2021 and have won the last three matches against the Gamecocks. Florida is 11-4 all-time in Columbia and lead the series 35-16-1. With Shelton leading the Orange & Blue, UF is 7-2 in the series.
 
RUN THE STATE
Florida improved to 4-0 against in-state foes on Tuesday after sweeping North Florida 7-0, failing to drop a set in the match across doubles and singles. The Gators also beat UCF, USF and FSU this season.
 
DUBS ON DUBS ON DUBs
The Gators have won the doubles point in 18 of 23 matches this season, including the last eight matches. When playing outdoors, Florida has dropped just one doubles point, with the one time coming in the season opener against Texas (Jan. 15). UF is the only team in the SEC and one of four teams in the nation to boast two top-20 ranked doubles pairs.
 
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Of the 25 matches on Florida’s regular season schedule, 14 will have come against opponents ranked in the top-25 following this weekend. This is the most top-25 ranked opponents Florida will have played in the regular season since exactly 20 years ago when the 2003 team faced 15 top-25 opponents.
 
TO A T

Since making his SEC singles debut on April 1 at Texas A&M, Tanapatt Nirundorn has been a perfect 3-0 at the six position. In both of last weekend’s matches, the freshman tied the overall score at 2-2 when Nirundorn beat Martim Prata, 6-4, 6-2 against No. 9 Tennessee and Teodor Giusca, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 against No. 7 Georgia.
 
DOWN GOES NO. 2 
Axel Nefve notched the highest-ranked victory of his…

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