Men’s Tennis Pulls off Thrilling Come-from-Behind Victory

Friday, January 17

Boca Raton, Fla.

11:00 AM

Florida Atlantic

ETSU

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

1/17/2020 4:09:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University men's tennis trailed ETSU for the majority of the day and were facing match point in the final tilt on the court, but the Owls were able to prevail on Alvaro Fernandez Horta's hard-fought three-set comeback victory to upend the Bucs Friday at the FAU Tennis Complex, 4-3. With the win, the Owls evened their season record up at 2-2 and extended their home winning streak to 13 matches.

Notables:

ETSU (0-1) took the doubles point, with decisions on Courts 2 and 3. FAU's No. 1 duo of Maxime Lapraille and Filip Krolo were ahead 4-2 in their match, one that would end unfinished
Krolo took a quick straight-set win at No. 5 for the day's first singles point, 6-1, 6-1
Jason Legall was also a winner, at No. 1, 6-2, 6-4
The Owls took a short-lived lead when freshman Gerard Escandell posted his first collegiate victory in the No. 4 matchup, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
Right after, ETSU knotted things back up at 3-3 and looked to potentially have the day in hand, leading No. 3 by a set, and with multiple match points in the second. But Fernandez Horta battled back to tie it at 6-6, won the tiebreaker in extra time at 9-7, and whitewashed his opponent in the third set, 6-0:

The game- winner and the celebration!!! pic.twitter.com/nMmBCBWgDC
— FAU Men's Tennis (@FAUMensTennis) January 17, 2020

Quotable

Head Coach Ricardo Gonzalez:
"I am extremely proud of the way this team battled today. We beat a very good ETSU team after losing the doubles point and then being down team match point on Court No. 3. Alvaro showed some grit and fought his way back to get the win for the team. Shout out to our freshmen for doing a phenomenal job staying composed throughout the match, and Jason Legall did his thing once again. He is so athletic and fun to watch.

"We need to get back to work and improve in many areas of our game, but we are definitely taking steps in the right direction."

Full Results:
FAU 4, ETSU 3
Doubles
1. Maxime Lapraille/Filip Krolo (FAU) vs. Frazier Rengifo/Dylan Bednarczyk (ETSU) 4-2, unfinished
2. Juan Lugo/Yusuf Khamis (ETSU) def. Jason Legall/Gerard Escandell (FAU) 6-2
3. Miguel Este/Dimitri Badra (ETSU) def. Alvaro Fernandez Horta/Hunter Robbins (FAU) 6-3

Singles
1. Jason Legall (FAU) def. Frazier Rengifo (ETSU) 6-2, 6-4
2. Yusuf Khamis (ETSU) def. #58 Maxime Lapraille (FAU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Alvaro Fernandez Horta (FAU) def. Juan Lugo (ETSU) 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-0
4. Gerard Escandell (FAU) def. Dimitri Badra (ETSU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
5. Filip Krolo (FAU) def. Dylan Bednarczyk (ETSU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Miguel Este (ETSU) def. Thomas Guy (FAU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-0

What's Next

The Owls are back at the FAU Tennis Complex, looking for consecutive home win No. 14, on Sunday. The team hosts USF for a noon start, and admission is free.