Men’s Tennis Shuts Out Colonials to Start Homestand

Saturday, March 9

Boca Raton, Fla.

12:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

George Washington

3/9/2019 7:30:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University men's tennis team whitewashed visiting George Washington on Saturday, 7-0, to start a three-match home series this weekend, and the first of six in a row overall at the FAU Tennis Complex.

Notables:

FAU (10-7) got on the board first by clinching the doubles points at No. 1 and No. 3
In their first pairing in the top slot, Mehdi Laalej and Gabriel Sidney combined for a 6-4 win
No. 3 was had by Alvaro Fernandez Horta and Hunter Robbins, making his collegiate debut, in a 7-6 (7-3) victory
The first singles point came courtesy of No. 1 Jason Legall, winning 6-0, 6-2
Laalej at No. 3 (6-1, 6-1) and Sidney at No. 4 (6-1, 6-3) made it 4-0, and the teams decided to play out the string
Winning next was Fernandez Horta at No. 5, 6-4, 6-0
Kirac Bekisoglu took a victory in the No. 2 slot, 6-5, 7-6 (7-2)
And finally, wrapping the shutout was No. 6 Luis Fernandez Labarta, in a third set, 6-2, 4-6, 10-4
The team had the opportunity pre-match to meet and honor former Owl Ed Mullen, who played for the squad in 1979. He is pictured with this story on the far right

Quotable

Head Coach Ricardo Gonzalez
"Great win for our team against a very good George Washington team. We are getting better each day."

"Tomorrow we have another challenge ahead of us and we are excited for another opportunity."

Full Results:
FAU 7, George Washington 0
Doubles
1. Gabriel Sidney/Mehdi Laalej (FAU) def. Ben Barnett/Zicheng Zeng (GW) 6-4
2. Kirac Bekisoglu/Thomas Guy (FAU) def. Lawrence Sciglitano/Hanyu Liu (GW) 7-5
3. Alvaro Fernandez Horta/Hunter Robbins (FAU) def. Dennis Afanasev/Ryan Navarro (GW) 7-6 (7-3)

Singles
1. Jason Legall (FAU) def. Zicheng Zeng (GW) 6-0, 6-2
2. Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) def. Ryan Navarro (GW) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
3. Mehdi Laalej (FAU) def. Ben Barnett (GW) 6-1, 6-1
4. Gabriel Sidney (FAU) def. Dennis Afanasev (GW) 6-1, 6-3
5. Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) def. Lawrence Sciglitano (GW) 6-4, 6-0
6. Luis Fernandez Labarta (FAU) def. Hanyu Liu (GW) 6-2, 4-6, 10-4

What's Next

Two more home matches in two days are coming up for the Owls, against VCU on Sunday at 11 a.m., and then UNC Asheville Monday at noon.