At last, the selection had started. During the selection show that was aired livestream, FGCU and some of the fans gathered at the Alico Arena to watch and see who they would play. Even former FGCU men's soccer player Santiago Ortiz and former men's tennis player Chris Perrigan were there.
As I was sitting with some of the players, I came to a realization on who I wanted to play. The team I was hoping we would play would be UCLA because the last time both teams met was in the first round of the 2015 national tennis tournament in which the Bruins came out on top 4-0 to advance to the second round before being eliminated by Oklahoma in the third round. I was hoping really hard that we would get them.
When UCLA's name was on the bracket, it was revealed that they would play Army, so our chance to play UCLA didn't happen this time. During the last eight teams being put together, FGCU had their opponent revealed: Florida. UF (17-9, 9-3 SEC) is ranked No. 15 in the nation.
Prior to the selection show, UF played in the SEC Conference Tournament and won against Ole Miss in the semifinals, but fell to Georgia in the finals. To no surprise, the Gators had an at-large bid to be in the tournament.
Ingildsen, a freshman from Copenhagen, Denmark, is 26-11 in overall singles with a 8-4 record in conference and is 24-8 overall in doubles with a 7-3 record in conference.
Kessler, a sophomore from Calhoun, Georgia, is 19-8 in singles and 8-6 in doubles. Kessler won the 2016 Coaches Award last year.
Belga, a junior from Boca Raton, Florida, is 16-9 in singles and 3-4 in doubles and was a SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll in 2015.
FGCU has never played UF and vice versa, so this marks as the first time both teams will be facing each other. The matchup will take place in Gainesville.
Junior Oliver Landert came from UF as a redshirt sophomore. Landert played for the Gators as a redshirt freshman and went 14-10 overall in singles and 11-12 in doubles before transferring to FGCU in the 2015-16 school year.
Landert, as a Gator, made it to the sweet sixteen before falling to Ohio State. So you could say this could be a "welcome" he may or may not expect, especially from his fformer teammates.
Sophomore Mateo Ruiz transferred this season from Oklahoma State University and had a record of only 1-2 for the Cowboys due to lack of playing time. Ruiz did go to the national and made it to the sweet sixteen before falling to then champion Virginia.
Lone senior Andy Alfonzo transferred from Texas Christian University (TCU) in the 2014-15 season and the former Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team member piled a 12-12 overall singles record and a 6-4 overall doubles record for the Horned Frogs. Alfonzo was named on the A-SUN All-Tournament team as well as being named the All-Tournament team MVP in this years conference tournament.
TCU and Oklahoma State were also set to be in the tournament. TCU, the No. 4 team in the nation and No. 6 seed in the tournament will play Jackson State while OK St, the No. 8 team in the nation and the No. 11 seed in the tournament, plays the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), a university I never even heard of in my life that comes from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
The tournament starts May 12th and will end on May 23rd. If FGCU wins against UF, they would face the winner between Georgia Tech and Minnesota in the second round. Times for all the matches have not been set yet, so it is unknown what time all teams will play against each other, but all the brackets have been secured for the tournament.
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