Owls Earn Right to Face ’22 and ’23 National Champion

Saturday, January 27

Charlottesville, Va.

9 a.m.

Florida Atlantic

Pennsylvania

1/27/2024 4:31:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Florida Atlantic was on the winning end of a close match and came away with a 4-3 victory over Pennsylvania on Saturday morning. With the win, the Owls move to 5-0 on the young season and earned the right to play 2024 ITA Kickoff Tournament host and the 2022 and 2023 National Champion Virginia at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Saturday's exciting match saw the Owls drop the doubles point. It was the first doubles point surrendered by FAU in 2024. Florida Atlantic would then need to secure four singles points for the win to remain perfect and for the chance to play Virginia.

Mark Havlicek captured court five by a 6-4, 6-3 score to even the match at 1-1. Joao Graca would put FAU up 2-1 and then UPenn evened it at 2-2. Jiri Jenicek's 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win on court two would move the match to 3-2, which once again UPenn erased and tied it at 3-3 with an exciting match on court four still in play.

Newcomer and veteran transfer Juan Martin Jalif a player who has battled to a 5-0 record in 2024. Every match he has played in 2024 has either required a tiebreaker or three sets to win and Sunday was no different. Jalif pulled out the 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-2 versus UPenn to clinch the Owls' win.

QUOTABLE

Ricardo Gonzalez, Director of Tennis
"Today was all about toughness and grit," said Gonzalez "it was not our best performance tennis wise, by any means but our guys hung tough and found a way to get a team win. We need to build from this and definitely improve on small details with our games. Excited for the next challenge and whats ahead of us."

RESULTS

UPenn vs Florida Atlantic at the ITA Kickoff
DATE: 01/27/2024 | TIME: 9 AM | SITE: Charlottesville, Va.
Doubles
#1 Jenicek, Jiri / Myslivec, Simon [FAU] def. Graziani / Lim [UPenn] 6-4
#2 Sandler / Vakili [UPenn] def. Coloas, Alberto / Jalif, Juan Martin [FAU] 6-3
#3 Sai / Rutter [Upen] def. Joao Graca / Mark Havlicek [FAU] 6-2
Order of Finish: 3,1,2

Singles
#1 Colas, Alberto [FAU] def. Graziani [UPenn] 7-6, 7-6
#2 Jenicek, Jiri [FAU] def. Vakili [UPenn] 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
#3 Sandler [UPenn] def. Graca, Joao [FAU] 2-6, 6-0, 6-4
#4 Jalif, Juan Martin [FAU] def. Baylor Sai [UPenn] 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-2
#5 Havlicek, Mark [FAU] def. Bharadwaj [UPenn] 6-4, 6-3
#6 Kurt Miller [FAU] 3-6, 7-5, 6-2

Order of Finish: 5,3,2,1,6,4

NEXT UP

The Owls will next play host #1 Virginia at the 2024 ITA Kickoff at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

FOLLOW ALONG

To follow the Owls socially, visit @faumtennis, or for the most up-to-date information go to www.fausports.com.