Men's Tennis Drops Season Opener to Nationally Ranked Miami

Thursday, January 19

Coral Gables, Fla.

2:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Miami

1/20/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Jan. 19, 2012

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Coral Gables, FL - The Florida Atlantic University men's tennis team put in a valiant effort but suffered a 6-1 loss to nationally ranked University of Miami in the season-opener match on Thursday in Coral Gables. Miami was ranked No. 31 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association national poll.

"We competed the best we could at this point in the season against a formidable team," said Brandon Stokes, FAU's head men's tennis coach. "We made decisions that adversely impacted today's result. We will not let this happen again this season. This is a tough group of guys that love to compete for each other. This is just the beginning of a terrific journey."

Junior Taylor Albrecht picked up the Owls' lone victory, beating Omar Aly at No. 2 singles after winning a third-set tiebreaker 10-5. Albrecht won the opening set 6-3 before falling in the second set 7-5.

Two other singles matches went the distance to the third set. Freshman Chris Janssen lost a hard-fought match to anchor the singles lineup. He won the opening set 6-1 before falling 7-5 and 6-3 in the next two sets.

Fellow freshman Will Neuner fell 10-7 in a third-set tiebreaker at No. 3 singles. He forced the deciding third set by winning the second set 6-4.

In doubles, Miami swept all three matches, but FAU's duo of Janssen and freshman Sean Bacha dropped an 8-6 decision at No. 2 doubles.

The Owls will have their home opener against Florida A&M University on Saturday, January 21, at noon from Patch Reef Park, 1200 Yamato Road in Boca Raton.

Singles

No. 1 Gabriel Flores (UM) def. Chris Janssen (FAU), 1-6, 7-5, 6-3

No. 2 Taylor Albrecht (FAU) def. Omar Aly (UM), 6-3, 5-7, 10-5

No. 3 Henrique Tsukamoto (UM) def. Will Neuner (FAU), 6-2, 4-6, 10-7

No. 4 Wilfredo Gonzalez (UM) def. Sean Bacha (FAU), 6-0, 6-0

No. 5 Diego Soto (UM) def. Robert Dubuque (FAU), 7-5, 6-1

No. 6 Victor Mauz (UM) def. Garrett Betsarakis (FAU), 6-2, 6-1

Doubles

No. 1 Aly/Gonzalez (UM) def. Albrecht/Neuner (FAU), 8-4

No. 2 Flores/Soto (UM) def. Janssen/Bacha (FAU), 8-6

No. 3 Mauz/Nieto (UM) def. Betsarakis/Dubuque (FAU), 8-3