Men’s Tennis Lifts Lid on 2019 Spring Campaign This Weekend

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University men's tennis kicks off the dual match portion of the 2018-19 schedule with their first contests of the spring this weekend, taking part in the FSU Spring Invitational in Tallahassee.

The Owls will be one of eight teams competing in the two-day invite to be held at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center, including the hosts and only team ranked in the preseason Oracle/ITA Division I Men's Rankings, No. 20 Florida State. The Seminoles will be in the top half of the bracket, along with New Orleans, UAB and Florida A&M.

FAU starts play against Nebraska on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. The winner moves on to face whoever advances between North Florida and Louisiana, at 2 p.m., also on Saturday (and conversely, the two teams that fall face one another as well, at that same time). The Owls' final match, dependent on both Saturday results, will take place Sunday at either 10 a.m. (the fifth- and seventh-place matchups), 12:30 p.m. (to determine third place) or 1 p.m. (the tournament's championship match).

The 2019 Owls' roster pairs five returnees with five newcomers, under the tutelage of Head Coach Ricardo Gonzalez. All but two are freshmen or sophomores, with the only upperclassmen being senior Gabriel Sidney, returning for his second year, and grad student transfer Mehdi Laalej, spending his first and final season with the squad. The remainder of the team is made up of three sophomores in Ignacio Garcia, Thomas Guy and Jason Legall, redshirt freshman Ivan Morin-Kougoucheff, and four true freshmen newcomers: Kirac Bekisoglu, Alvaro Fernandez Horta, Luis Fernandez Labarta and Hunter Robbins. For more on the team and Gonzalez's outlook, click play on the video embedded above.

Only the matches featuring Florida State will feature live stats during this tournament. Stay tuned for FAU's results throughout the weekend, both here on FAUSports.com, and on Twitter @FAUmenstennis.

Calendar

Upcoming Events