The Florida Gators defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs at the ITA Kickoff at the Florida Regional in Gainesville on January 28. The 4-2 victory qualifies the Gators for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago. The win was head coach Bryan Shelton’s 200th at Florida, only the third coach in program history to hit that mark.
Florida freshman duo Tanapatt Nirundorn and Togan Tokac had a hard-fought doubles battle but ended up beating their opposition 6-3 to lead things off. Jonah Braswell and Lukas Greif took an even tougher match to 7-5 but came away with the victory giving the Gators the point for doubles.
In singles, Florida’s Axel Nefve finished quickly going 6-0 and 6-3 to push the Gators to a 2-0 lead. Mississippi State grabbed the next two wins and tied things up at 2-2. Greif and Tokac supplied the final two points for Florida in their singles matches to polish off the Bulldogs.
“Mississippi State is a good team. They really came ready to battle and our guys had to step up to the challenge,” associate head coach Mat Cloer said after the match. “Really just proud of the guys for a whole team effort today, one-through-six on the courts. A huge credit to the guys who weren’t in the lineup today, they always help keep the guys positive. It was a great team effort and we stayed tough in big moments.”
For Coach Shelton, he joined Ian Duvenhage and Andy Jackson as the only coaches in program history with 200 wins and is the fastest to reach that mark in just 270 matches.
“Just really proud of our guys,” Shelton said after the match. “It always comes back to the players. It’s great to be a part of this type of program where we have so many people invested in the success of our program, and I think those 200 wins are a result of just so many people putting their hearts into what we do.”
“The players that have come in here have really applied the lessons they are learning and just competing with passion and pride. Just representing Gator Nation the way it should be. This is a special, special place,” Shelton said. “It’s just nice to be around people who really appreciate that and go above and beyond for us to do things that we do. Very fortunate and blessed to be in this position and for the last 11 years to be a part of such a rich tradition of excellence.”
Florida later secured their seventh consecutive victory over in-state rival Florida State on Thursday, February 2. The Gators won the College Match Day 4-2. The ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago took place on February 17-20. Florida beat Baylor on February 19, 4-2.
By Bob Redman.