ITA Southeast Regional Awards
Leading the team to its third-straight SEC regular season title with an undefeated 12-0 record, winning the SEC Tournament Championship for the first time since 2016 and getting to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Team Championships, both Head Coach Bryan Shelton and Associate Head Coach Tanner Stump were named the Wilson ITA Coach of the Year and ITA Assistant Coach of the Year, respectively. This marks Coach Shelton's fourth Southeast Region Coach of the Year honor and Stump's second regional Assistant Coach of the Year accolade.
Senior Sam Riffice continued to add to his long list of well-deserved accolades as he was the recipient of three regional awards. Riffice received the Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award, which is given to a student-athlete who exemplifies outstanding sportsmanship, leadership, academic, extracurricular and tennis achievements. Riffice becomes only the second player in program history to receive this regional award since McClain Kessler won it in 2018.
He also claimed the ITA Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award, the ITA's longest-running honor, which goes to a player who displays sportsmanship, character, excellent academics and has had outstanding tennis playing accomplishments. The captain from Orlando, Fla. was also named the Southeast Regional Senior Player of the Year after his incredible run in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, while also captaining the team to a quarterfinals appearance. This is the program's third regional honor as both Alexandre Lacroix (2011) and Florent Diep (2014) also won this award.
In addition, the Gators accumulated 49 hours of community service this year, volunteering with organizations such as Bread of the Mighty Food Bank, MLK Day of Service, Gators Tracks, the UF Special Olympics, Boy Scouts and Friends of Jaclyn. For their leadership in the Gainesville community, the team was honored with the ITA Community Service Award for the second year in a row.
ITA Rankings
In the final team rankings of the year, the Gators claimed the No. 2 spot, just behind Virginia. Five players and three doubles teams also found themselves in the rankings.
After winning the singles title, sophomore Ben Shelton joins Jeff Morrison (2000) as just the second player in program history to end the year ranked No. 1 in singles. In doing so, he was named the Gators' first ITA National Player of the Year. Riffice earned a No. 13 ranking after making back-to-back semifinals appearances in the NCAA Singles Championships. Rounding out the singles rankings were Andy Andrade (110), Duarte Vale (113) and Josh Goodger (116). This is Florida's fourth-straight season with five or more players ranked in singles at the end of the season.
In doubles, Riffice and Shelton were the highest-ranked doubles pair as they finished at No. 5, the highest end-of-the-year doubles ranking since Johannes Ingildsen and Alfredo Perez in 2018 when they were ranked No. 2. Andrade and Mattias Siimar followed at No. 70 with a 20-7 record, while Siimar and Abedallah Shelbayh finished at No. 80 with seven wins.
Southeast Regional Rankings
In the regional rankings, the Gators claimed the No. 1 spot in the team rankings, ahead of Georgia (2) and Florida State (3). In singles, Shelton finished again at No. 1 and Riffice was right behind at No. 3. Four other Gators were ranked in the top-20 as Andrade finished No. 11, Vale claimed the No. 13 spot, Goodger was No. 14, Nate Bonetto was ranked No. 15 and Siimar was No. 16. In doubles, Riffice and Shelton were the top team at No. 1, while Andrade and Siimar were No. 8 and Siimar and Shelbayh finished at No. 9.
ITA All-Americans
Two Gators – Shelton and Riffice – earned All-American honors in both singles and doubles this season. To qualify for All-American status, a player has to make it to the quarterfinals of individual competition, finish top-20 in national ITA end-of-the-year rankings or be seeded in the NCAA Individual Championships.
Shelton and Riffice qualified automatically in doubles as the pair came into the tournament as a 5-8 seed. They also finished the year ranked No. 5 and made it to the quarterfinals of play.
Shelton also automatically qualified in singles coming into the tournament as the top-seeded player. To earn All-American honors in singles, Riffice would have to make a quarterfinals appearance or finish in the top-20 of singles rankings, which he did after making a semifinals run and finishing No. 13 in the rankings.
Shelton earns his first All-American honors of his career, while Riffice picks up his sixth All-American honor. Riffice becomes the only Gator in program history with four All-American honors in singles and has the most All-American honors in school history with six.
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Gators Honored with ITA Awards - Florida Gators
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