(TEN) M Tennis at ITA

We had set point in two different situations in singles and could not put Texas away. In my opinion the final results were quite obvious. Texas wanted this match a bit more than Florida. As far as what is wrong, there are many possibilities. My opinion, once again is that it is much easier being the hunter, as we last year, than it is being the hunted, which is the case this year. There are not many situations where we should be okay with losing all three top singles positions, and that is what happened Friday. Solution, once again in my humble opinion: stop playing "not to lose", and go out there and play to win by trusting one's strokes at critical situations in a match. Easy to say but difficult to do! As for doubles, I think it is best for me to keep my mouth shut! We got away with losing the doubles point last year, but this year it had to come back and bite us in the rear end. When two evenly matched teams play, the doubles point is imperative. We beat Texas earlier in the season at their place by winning the doubles. Yesterday in Seattle, we lost the doubles and once again split the singles, meaning we came out on the short end of a 4-3 score!

 

i am no expert, but it seems we go into each match down 1-0, have we won at #6 singles this year at all?

 

saw only 10 names on the roster, thought there were more than that.

 

It annoys me how these teams go all the way to Washington and there's 3 intra-SEC consolation matches today. Kind of a shame. But clearly there will be plenty of opportunities for quality wins down the line in conference play. Looks like Tennessee vs TCU in the final here.

Anyways, Shelton clinches his 2nd straight and the Gators finish up with a 4-2 win over Georgia. Nice bounce back from him after losing the decider to Texas. But the top of the lineup clearly continues to struggle overall.

 

Yeah Florida is way better at outdoors stuff anyway.

 

Team flies home this morning and will get a few days off before preparing for the SEC opener on Friday March 4th at home. Yes you are right, we need to get more out of the top of our lineup. These veterans need to step up. The REAL season is about to begin!

 

When the team returns from Seattle I see they will be greeted with the new installation of chairback seats at The Ring.

Nice look. Coach Hoc, I believe you previously stated that there may be an addition to the indoor courts at some point? If so, is that still in the works?

 

We met with Gator Boosters and the UAA last fall. In that meeting we outlined the essential upgrades our Ring Tennis Center needs, with input from the head coach. The end result was a three or four phase plan to upgrade everything from the shade and chairbacks, now installed, to adding to the indoor center, installing cameras in there for video streaming of indoor matches. In addition the tennis building that houses our athletes and coaching offices would be enlarged and overhauled. I do not expect the remainder of the improvements to the Ring Tennis Center to occur immediately. The next phase of rebuilding our athletic facilities will be for volleyball, track, and our football stadium, the Swamp. If I had to guess I would say the next phase of the tennis plan is about three years down the road. However, I am confident that these changes at the Ring Tennis center WILL occur. Our AD Scott Stricklin is all in on making our overall athletic complex one of the best in the nation!

 

I remember when doubles was best 2-out-of-three sets and counted as 1 point each. Matches were hours and hours long and we had to sit under a relentless late Spring Florida sun. I could not understand why in the world would they not have designed any cover or overhang to shield fans from the oppressive sun? It never made any sense. None of the facilities had them. At last the softball stadium's upgrade added shading, then the new baseball stadium, and now the tennis stadium. Hopefully track and field's upgrade will also include it.

It will be interesting to see where they plan on building these additions? The 3 current indoor courts are next to the basketball practice facilities and they built student housing right up to the entrance of the tennis stadium. And there's not much room for expanding the tennis offices. I was friends with Shaun Stafford (Florida's 1st NCAA champion)- we played juniors and trained at the same tennis club-and remembered going to watch her and the Gators before there was a grandstand and only 6 courts. When they expanded and built 9 more tennis courts and the grandstand I remember thinking There's so much room for future expansion, especially for 6 indoor courts. Then they built the basketball practice facility and I thought Still plenty of room..Until when all those residence housing sprung up right against the tennis facility. Have they not seen Georgia's facility? Stanford's facility? The top 2 in the NCAAs IMO! We will never get to host the NCAA Championships again