Owls Come from Behind in Paradise

Tuesday, March 10

Boca Raton, Fla.

11 a.m.

Florida Atlantic

Utah State

3/10/2026 3:01:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic men's tennis team improved to 6-5 on the year with a gutty 4-3 come-from-behind win over the visiting Utah State on Tuesday afternoon in Paradise.

The Owls (6-5) uncharacteristically dropped the doubles point and saw a player medically retired versus Utah State (7-5) before staging the remarkable comeback.

QUOTABLE
"Today was a super gritty performance from our team," said Ricardo Gonzalez, FAU's Director of Tennis. "Utah State is a very tough team and they were very hungry to take us down. Our boys did a good job staying tough when it mattered. Kudos to Mark, Marek, Simon and Jan for picking up wins in singles to get the victory for the team."

THE BEGINNING
Utah State captured the doubles point in tiebreak fashion. The Owls dropped court #1 while FAU's Lucca Pignaton / and Luca Miremont captured court #3, setting up a deciding point finish that would be decided on court #2. The doubles team of Segundo Goity Zapico / Simon Myslivec pushed their match to 6-6 before USC won the tiebreaker 7-1 to secure the doubles point.

THE MIDDLE
Myslivec evened the match with a 6-4, 6-2 court #4 victory. USU retook the lead with a victory on court #6 and points were traded once more with the court #2 retirement by FAU and a 7-6(7-5), 6-2 victory by Marek Pazdera on court #3. FAU junior Mark Havlicek won court #1 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 to even the score at three all.

THE FINISH
Jan Kusy closed out the match for the Owls with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 court #5 win to clinch the hard-fought match.

THE RESULT
Florida Atlantic 4 (6-5) vs Utah State (7-5) 3
03/10/2026 at Boca Raton, Fla. -- Kimberly V. Strauss Tennis Center
Double
1 Xavier Calvelo and Jakub Medved (USU) def. Mark Havlicek and Marek Pazdera (FAU)
6-0
2 Jean-Baptiste Badon and Dmitri Goubin (USU) def. Segundo Goity Zapico and Simon Myslivec (FAU) 7-6 [7-1] 4-2
3 Luca Miremont and Lucca Pignaton (FAU) def. Eliot Nobel and Roman Venger (USU)
6-3

Singles
1 Mark Havlicek (FAU) def. Jean-Baptiste Badon (USU) 6-2 1-6 6-4
2 Xavier Calvelo (USU) def. Segundo Goity Zapico (FAU) 7-6 (7-5) 4-2
3 Marek Pazdera (FAU) def. Roman Venger (USU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
4 Simon Myslivec (FAU) def. Eliot Nobel (USU) 6-4 6-2
5 Jan Kusy (FAU) def. Jakub Medved (USU) 6-4 4-6 6-2
6 Dmitri Goubin (USU) def. Luca Miremont (FAU) 6-1 7-5

Match Notes
Order of finish: Singles -- 2 4 6 1 3 5; Doubles -- 1 3 2 | Start Time: 11AM
Duration: 3:12

UP NEXT
The Owls will remain at home to play host to fellow American Conference member Rice, on Friday, March 13 at 5 p.m., following the women's match which begins at 11 a.m. All matches played at the Kimberly V. Strauss Tennis Center are free and open to the public. Matches may also be followed via live stats at Fausports.com.

THE SCHEDULE
For a complete schedule click HERE.

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