MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Fraysure
BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 29, 2019) – Prior to the home finale, the Florida Atlantic University men’s tennis team celebrated seniors Mehdi Laalej and Gabriel Sidney. Tied 1-1 in doubles, the duo paired together on the No. 2 court to clinch the match’s first point. Up 3-1, Laalej then posted the winner at No. 3 singles and stretched the Owls’ win streak to seven in a row, topping Brown on Friday afternoon.
Notables:
· Brown took the first doubles point, but No. 68 Jason Legall and Ignacio Garcia pulled off a comeback victory, 7-5
· Similarly at No. 2, Laalej and Sidney were tied at 5-5, broke their counterparts (ranked No. 78 nationally) flawlessly on the next-to-last point, and took the match on Laalej’s serve for another 7-5 win
· The Bears momentarily tied it with the first singles victory, but No. 5 Alvaro Fernandez Horta pushed the Owls back ahead by a straight-set 6-4, 6-2 score
· Kirac Bekisoglu won his match at No. 2 in a second-set tiebreaker, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6)
· Then it was up to Laalej, winning his 13th straight singles match of the year, 6-1, 6-4
· For the team, the Friday win marked a perfect 9-0 slate at the FAU Tennis Complex
Full Results:
FAU 4, Brown 1
Doubles
1. #68 Jason Legall/Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. Ching Lam/Jacob Walker (BROWN) 7-5
2. Mehdi Laalej/Gabriel Sidney (FAU) def. #78 Charles Tan/Roger Chou (BROWN) 7-5
3. Peter Litsky/Teddy van Eck (BROWN) def. Kirac Bekisoglu/Thomas Guy (FAU) 6-2
Singles
1. Jason Legall (FAU) vs. Peter Litsky (BROWN) 6-0, 6-7 (6-8), 1-2, unfinished
2. Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) def. Ching Lam (BROWN) 6-1, 7-6 (8-6)
3. Mehdi Laalej (FAU) def. Roger Chou (BROWN) 6-1, 6-4
4. Jacob Walker (BROWN) def. Gabriel Sidney (FAU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) def. Charles Tan (BROWN) 6-4, 6-2
6. Luis Fernandez Labarta (FAU) vs. Robert Siniakowicz (BROWN) 6-2, 3-6, unfinished
What’s Next:
With the home slate wrapped, the Owls have one more match this weekend, in Orlando at No. 33 UCF Sunday night at 6 p.m. Then it’s three on the road (at one site, in Charlotte, April 5-7), then the 2019 Conference USA Championship (April 19-21 in Murfreesboro).
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.…
