Men’s Tennis Edged Out in C-USA Championship Match

Sunday, April 21

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

12:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Middle Tennessee

4/21/2019 6:49:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

MURFEESBORO, Tenn. – By the slimmest of margins, the Florida Atlantic University men's tennis team fell in a heartbreaker in the finals match of the 2019 Conference USA Championship, 4-3 to Middle Tennessee.

Notables:

The Blue Raiders (18-11) took the doubles point, but FAU (19-10) battled back with the first three singles wins
Quickly in was Jason Legall at No. 1, nearly flawlessly, 6-2, 6-0
Ignacio Garcia was moments behind, taking a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 5
Giving the Owls a 3-1 lead was No. 2 Kirac Bekisoglu, 6-4, 6-4
MT tied it with wins at No. 4 (in three sets) and No. 3 (in two tiebreak sets), and would get another three-set win at No. 6 to take the championship

Quotable

Head Coach Ricardo Gonzalez:
"Today was definitely heartbreaking and will be a tough one to swallow. We have a special group of kids who work their tails off day in and day out. They really wanted to bring the big trophy back to Boca Raton. We will use this as fuel for next season and get back up stronger.

"Shoutout to our senior captains (Gabriel Sidney and Mehdi Laalej) for leading the way this season and leaving a legacy in this program."

Full Results:
Middle Tennessee 4, FAU 3
Doubles
1. #76 Jason Legall/Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. #86 Chris Edge/Tom Moonen (MT) 6-5
2. Max Rauch/Francisco Rocha (MT) def. Gabriel Sidney/Mehdi Laalej (FAU) 6-3
3. Gonzalo Morell/Pavel Motl (MT) def. Alvaro Fernandez Horta/Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) 6-2

Singles
1. Jason Legall (FAU) def. Gonzalo Morell (MT) 6-2, 6-0
2. Kirac Bekisoglu (FAU) def. Stijn Slump (MT) 6-4, 6-4
3. Tom Moonen (MT) def. Mehdi Laalej (FAU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5)
4. Max Rauch (MT) def. Gabriel Sidney (FAU) 7-5, 1-6, 6-1
5. Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. Chris Edge (MT) 6-4, 6-2
6. Pavel Motl (MT) def. Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-5

What's Next

The NCAA Tournament selection show will be held on Monday, April 29 at 6 p.m., if the Owls' season is to continue with an at-large bid. NCAA first and second rounds are to be held at campus sites, May 3-5.