Men’s Tennis Runs Win Streak to Six with Saturday Sweep

Saturday, March 16

Boca Raton, Fla.

9:00 AM

Florida Atlantic

UAB

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

3/16/2019 7:22:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BOCA RATON, Fla. – 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.