MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Fraysure, jonathan.fraysure@fau.edu
BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 16, 2019) – Florida Atlantic University men’s tennis was victorious in both ends of a Saturday doubleheader, winning the team’s first Conference USA match of the year, then posted their fourth shutout out of the last five in the nightcap. The Owls (14-7) topped UAB 6-1, and UConn 7-0.
Notables:
· In the first match Saturday, the Owls squared off against league foe UAB, and quickly got on the board with the doubles point
· Medhi Laalej and Gabriel Sidney were victorious at No. 2 (6-2), and Jason Legall and Ignacio Garcia gained the point at No. 1 (6-4)
· Four singles matches clinched the match quickly, all in the span of about five minutes
· Alvaro Fernandez Horta was first in, at No. 6 (6-4, 6-1), followed by No. 5 Ignacio Garcia (6-4, 6-1)
· Laalej made it 4-0 (6-4, 6-2), with Sidney right behind him (6-4, 6-3), on courts 3 and 4, respectively
· Playing it out, No. 2 Kirac Bekisoglu took the Owls’ fifth consecutive straight-set win (6-4, 6-4)
· The only match left, No. 1, went all the way out to a three-set tiebreaker, and it was of the slimmest of margins, with Jason Legall edged out at the very end (4-6, 6-3, 0-1 (8-10))
· Against UConn, the Owls swept all the way through, all doubles and all singles
· Garcia and Ivan Morin-Kougoucheff were 6-2 victors at No. 3; Legall and Hunter Robbins at No. 1, 6-3; and Fernandez Horta and Bekisoglu, 6-4, at No. 2
· The singles victories began at No. 4, with Garcia posting a flawless 6-0, 6-0 win
· Luis Fernandez Labarta followed with a 6-1, 6-1 decision at No. 6, and Fernandez Horta was right behind 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 for the 4-0 lead
· Things were wrapped at No. 2 (Laalej, 6-0, 6-3), No. 3 (Sidney, 6-2, 6-3) and No. 1 (Legall, 7-5, 6-3)
Quotable
Head Coach Ricardo Gonzalez:
“Another great performance at home today. UAB and UConn are two strong teams and our boys showed up to play.
“Not only do our boys love to win, but they hate losing more than anything. They are competitive with each other day in and day out, and it brings the best in each other.
“Starting conference play is never easy, but our team did a very good job from top to bottom playing smart and discipline tennis. We continue to get better. Today was a great day in paradise.”
Full Results:
FAU 6, UAB 1
Doubles
1. Jason Legall/Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. Roman Postolka/Michal Lusovsky (UAB) 6-4
2. Mehdi Laalej/Gabriel Sidney (FAU) def. Nikolai Manchev/Daniel Janko (UAB) 6-2
3. Kirac Bekisoglu/Thomas Guy (FAU) vs. Jasper van Kleef/Giovani Pasini (UAB) 5-5, unfinished
Singles
1. Roman Postolka (UAB) def. Jason Legall (FAU) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)
2. Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) def. Michal Lusovsky (UAB) 6-4, 6-4
3. Mehdi Laalej (FAU) def. Jasper van Kleef (UAB) 6-4, 6-2
4. Gabriel Sidney (FAU) def. Daniel Janko (UAB) 6-4, 6-3
5. Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. Giovani Pasini (UAB) 6-4, 6-1
6. Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) def. Tom el Safadi (UAB) 6-4, 6-1
FAU 7, UConn 1
Doubles
1. Jason Legall/Hunter Robbins (FAU) def. Hank Hill/Yili Zheng (UC) 6-3
2. Alvaro Fernandez Horta/Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) def. Jack McLister/J. Michael Holtmann (UC) 6-4
3. Ivan Morin-Kougoucheff/Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. Justin Warren/Christian Provenzano (UC) 6-2
Singles
1. Jason Legall (FAU) def. Yili Zheng (UC) 7-5, 6-3
2. Mehdi Laalej (FAU) def. J. Michael Holtmann (UC) 6-0, 6-3
3. Gabriel Sidney (FAU) def. Jack McLister (UC) 6-2, 6-3
4. Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. Hank Hill (UC) 6-0, 6-0
5. Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) def. Justin Warren (UC) 6-2, 6-0
6. Luis Fernandez Labarta (FAU) def. Christian Provenzano (UC) 6-1, 6-1
What’s Next:
A week from Friday, FAU returns home for an afternoon match hosting Brown, beginning at 2 p.m. That will be the final home contest of the season, and will be Senior Day, as the Owls honor Laalej and Sidney. Four road battles remain in the regular season, prior to the 2019 C-USA Championship, starting April 19 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
– 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.
