Men’s Tennis Finishes as Runners-Up in First Tourney of Spring

Sunday, January 13

Tallahassee, Fla.

1:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Florida State

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Men’s Tennis Finishes as Runners-Up in First Tourney of Spring

1/13/2019 7:11:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Florida State 4, FAU 0 (Championship)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University men's tennis team fell to No. 20 Florida State on Sunday, but finished 2-1 on the weekend and as runners-up in the weekend's FSU Spring Invitational.

Notables:

The doubles portion was hard-fought. In fact, the Owls took the first of the three matches, as the No. 2-seeded combo of Kirac Bekisoglu and Gabriel Sidney won by a 6-3 score
FSU knotted it up in the No. 3 slot, and needed a tiebreak to take the No. 1 pairing, 7-5, for the doubles point
The Seminoles swept the three singles matches to clinch the win
Among the other three unfinished battles, Ignacio Garcia had forced a third set at No. 5 (6-3, 4-6, 1-0), and Alvaro Fernandez Horta lost a tiebreaker in the first and was battling in the second when the result was tallied (7-5, 2-3)

Quotable:
Head Coach Ricardo Gonzalez on the FSU Spring Invitational as a whole:
"Overall, our team had a solid weekend. I am extremely pleased with the way we competed on Saturday against two great teams. Our team showed a lot of fight and grit during the tough moments and that's what it's all about."

Gonzalez on Sunday:
"Today we started off on a good note playing great doubles against Florida State. We had plenty of opportunities to take that point, but FSU played a little better than us when it mattered the most.

"Our team could've performed way better during singles play. I am not pleased, but we need to learn and get better. Credit to FSU. They were the better team today and their coaches are doing a great job with that program."

Full Results:
FSU 4, FAU 0
Doubles

1. Aziz Dougaz/Lucas Poullain (FSU) def. Jason Legall/Ignacio Garcia (FAU) 7-5
2. Kirac Bekisoglu/Gabriel Sidney (FAU) def. Alex Knaff/Sebastian Arcila (FSU) 6-3
3. Bryn Nahrung/Enzo Le Seguillon (FSU) def. Mehdi Laalej/Thomas Guy (FAU) 6-4

Singles

1. Aziz Dougaz (FSU) def. Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Lucas Poullain (FSU) def. Jason Legall (FAU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Alex Knaff (FSU) def. Gabriel Sidney (FAU) 6-4, 6-4
4. #84 Rana Roop Bhullar (FSU) vs. Mehdi Laalej (FAU) 6-3, 4-3, unfinished
5. Enzo Le Seguillon (FSU) vs. Ignacio Garcia (FAU) 6-3, 4-6, 1-0, unfinished
6. Chase Wood (FSU) vs. Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) 7-5, 2-3, unfinished

What's Next:
The Owls will have two matches in Orlando next Saturday, Jan. 19, as part of the USTA National Campus Collegiate Series. First up is UNCW at 9 a.m., followed by a matchup against BYU at 3 p.m.