The Florida men’s tennis team picked up a record-setting number of postseason conference accolades Thursday when Bryan Shelton was named SEC Coach of the Year and Sam Riffice earned Freshman of the Year, the league announced.
Sophomore Oliver Crawford made All-SEC First-Team, while Riffice, sophomore Andy Andrade and junior Johannes Ingildsen were listed on the second. Riffice and Lukas Greif were also named to the All-Freshman team.
Florida’s eight SEC honors sets a program record, breaking the previous record of seven set in 2016.
Shelton is the 13th coach to nab the postseason award for Florida and this marks the second of his tenure with the Gators. Shelton was named Coach of the Year in 2016 following the Gators’ SEC Tournament Championship.
This season marks Shelton’s seventh as head coach at Florida. He led the Gators to a current 21-3 record and a regular-season SEC Championship after going 12-0 in conference play. The team has also notched 16 wins over ranked opponents and was ranked No. 2 in the nation for the first time since 2006.
MEN’S GOLF
Gators way off pace
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The Florida men’s golf team had little movement in the lineup on the second day of SEC play with the exception of sophomore John Axelsen. As a team, the Gators dropped a spot to 14th, last place.
Axelsen finished the first round at T25 and shooting on par, the best performance of the day for the Gators. The second round only got better. With two birdies on his first nine and four birdies on his second nine holes, Axelsen shot up the leaderboard 21 spots and is T4 going into the final round of stroke play. He finished the round with a five-under score of 65, his second-best round of the season and best round of the spring. The individual SEC champion will be named at the conclusion of stroke play and Axelsen should remain in contention.
Florida heads into the final round of stroke play with some work to do before match play, which begins Saturday with the top eight teams. Auburn leads at 541 (-19), while UF is at 578 (+18).
WOMEN’S TENNIS
SEC honors for 3
Three Florida women’s tennis players were represented on All-Southeastern Conference teams. Ida Jarlskog earned first-team honors, McCartney Kessler was tabbed second team and Marlee Zein made the All-Freshman team.
The 64-team field for the 2019 NCAA Championships is set to be unveiled Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.
SOFTBALL
Florida at Auburn
No. 7 Florida is at No. 19 Auburn for its final SEC road series of the season. The three-game series is set for 7 p.m. (ET) today, Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. The Gators (37-12, 9-9 SEC) will take on a Tigers (34-13, 9-9) team that has lost five of their last six SEC games.
