The University of Florida men’s tennis team had a very good season, clinching its fourth SEC title in program history and winning its 13th consecutive SEC Tournament title.
University Of Florida Mens Tennis
University of Florida men’s tennis coach Bryan Shelton has been named the 2018 SEC Coach of the Year and junior Chase Perez-Blanco has been named the 2018 SEC Player to Watch, the conference office announced Tuesday.
The University of Florida men’s tennis team has been awarded the 2018 SEC Coach of the Year, while junior Chase Perez-Blanco was named the 2018 SEC Player to Watch.
The awards were announced Tuesday by the conference office.
Shelton is in his first season as head coach at Florida after spending seven years at Georgia and helping lead the Bulldogs to their first national championship in school history in 2017. The Gators went 7-0 against ranked opponents last year, including a 5-0 mark against top 10 foes, which was good enough for second place in the Southeastern Conference standings en route to a 20-4 overall record and a 15th NCAA Tournament berth in program history.
Shelton, who is in his seventh season at UF and his 19th as a head coach, led the Gators to a 23-3 record and a program-record 12 SEC wins in 2018.
- Shelton is in his seventh season at UF and his 19th as a head coach.
- In 2018, he led the Gators to a 23-3 record and a program-record 12 SEC wins.
- The team was ranked No. 1 nationally for three consecutive weeks, its longest stretch atop either poll since 2000 (11 consecutive weeks).
In addition to securing its fourth SEC regular season championship in school history and its second under Shelton, UF also won its 13th consecutive SEC Tournament title this season.
In addition to securing its fourth SEC regular season championship in school history and its second under Shelton, UF also won its 13th consecutive SEC Tournament title this season.
UF has won the SEC Tournament 13 times in a row.
UF has won the SEC regular season championship 4 times (2012-13, 2017-18).
UF has won both the regular season and tournament championships in the same year 3 times (2007–08, 2013–14).
UF also has finished with at least one NCAA bid 3 times since 2010–11.
Shelton is now a five-time SEC Coach of the Year, having previously won in 2012 with Georgia, 2013 and 2014 with Florida and 2016 with UF.
Shelton is now a five-time SEC Coach of the Year, having previously won in 2012 with Georgia, 2013 and 2014 with Florida and 2016 with UF. He has been coaching for 19 years.
Perez-Blanco, who is ranked No. 54 in singles by ITA, has posted an overall record of 15-5 while playing at court No. 2 for Florida.
Perez-Blanco, who is ranked No. 54 in singles by ITA, has posted an overall record of 15-5 while playing at court No. 2 for Florida.
He’s a junior who hails from Miami and was a starter for UF since his freshman year.
The last time Perez-Blanco lost back-to-back matches was February 2018 when he fell to Clemson’s Dino Manjaniak and North Carolina State’s Rylan Rizza at the Gator Spring Invitational in Gainesville, Florida. He defeated his next two opponents — Maxx Lipman (Texas A&M) and Ben Mitchell (Clemson) — to advance to the semifinals where he lost to LSU’s Hugo Dojas 6–4 6–2
The Miami native has clinched four matches for UF this season and was named the ITA National Player of the Week on Feb. 14 after defeating then-No. 7 Skander Mansouri of Wake Forest 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.
Perez-Blanco is a junior at the University of Florida and enjoys playing tennis. He is ranked 54th in singles by the ITA. He was named the ITA National Player of the Week on Feb. 14 after defeating then-No. 7 Skander Mansouri of Wake Forest 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 at home in Gainesville, Fla., to give UF its first win over a top 10 opponent since 2016. Perez has won 15 matches this season with his most recent victory coming Saturday against Mississippi State’s Noa Schreyer 6–1, 6–2 in Athens, Ga., where he clinched an SEC match for the Gators with one victory more than his opponent’s total number of wins so far this spring (see photo above).
Perez-Blanco clinched a win for UF over Georgia in the regular season finale for the Gators on April 14 in Gainesville.
Perez-Blanco clinched a win for UF over Georgia in the regular season finale for the Gators on April 14 in Gainesville. He went 4-0 in singles play and helped lead Florida to its seventh consecutive SEC Tournament title. Perez-Blanco teamed up with Bhatia to win their first doubles tournament of the season at the ITA All-American Championships, where they defeated top seeds David O’Hare and Jamie Cerretani from Stanford 7-6(3), 6-1. Perez-Blanco finished his sophomore year with an 11–8 record overall.
In addition to his success on court this past season, Perez-Blanco was also named Scholar Athlete of the Year by both his teammates and coaches at Florida after posting a 3.97 GPA during fall quarter classes.
The University Of Florida Mens Tennis team had a very good season
The University of Florida had a very good season. They went 23-3, won the 13th consecutive SEC Tournament title and fourth SEC regular season championship in school history. The Gators were ranked No. 1 in the country for most of the year before losing to Tennessee in April to fall back to No. 2 overall.
Closing
The University Of Florida Men’s Tennis team had a very good season, finishing 23-3 with a SEC regular season championship.