MURFEESBORO, Tenn. – (April 21, 2019) – By the slimmest of margins, the Florida Atlantic University men’s tennis team fell in a heartbreaker in the finals match of the 2019 Conference USA Championship, 4-3 to Middle Tennessee.
Notables:
· The Blue Raiders (18-11) took the doubles point, but FAU (19-10) battled back with the first three singles wins
· Quickly in was Jason Legall at No. 1, nearly flawlessly, 6-2, 6-0
· Ignacio Garcia was moments behind, taking a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 5
· Giving the Owls a 3-1 lead was No. 2 Kirac Bekisoglu, 6-4, 6-4
· MT tied it with wins at No. 4 (in three sets) and No. 3 (in two tiebreak sets), and would get another three-set win at No. 6 to take the championship
Full Results:
Middle Tennessee 4, FAU 3
Doubles
1. #76 Jason Legall/Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. #86 Chris Edge/Tom Moonen (MT) 6-5
2. Max Rauch/Francisco Rocha (MT) def. Gabriel Sidney/Mehdi Laalej (FAU) 6-3
3. Gonzalo Morell/Pavel Motl (MT) def. Alvaro Fernandez Horta/Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) 6-2
Singles
1. Jason Legall (FAU) def. Gonzalo Morell (MT) 6-2, 6-0
2. Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) def. Stijn Slump (MT) 6-4, 6-4
3. Tom Moonen (MT) def. Mehdi Laalej (FAU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5)
4. Max Rauch (MT) def. Gabriel Sidney (FAU) 7-5, 1-6, 6-1
5. Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. Chris Edge (MT) 6-4, 6-2
6. Pavel Motl (MT) def. Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-5
What’s Next:
The NCAA Tournament selection show will be held on Monday, April 29 at 6 p.m., if the Owls’ season is to continue with an at-large bid. NCAA first and second rounds are to be held at campus sites, May 3-5.
– 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.
