Oct. 9, 2005
WINTER PARK - Competing close to home, the UCF men's tennis team had a solid showing on Saturday and Sunday at the C.L. Varner Memorial Invitational hosted by Rollins. The Golden Knights dominated doubles play and had several impressive showings on the singles side.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Delanois was a co-champion in the Flight B singles draw, advancing to the title match. Delanois earned the third seed in the draw and posted three wins to advance to the championship contest.
After a first round bye, he rallied to top Glenn Marshall of North Florida, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. In the third round, Delanois had little trouble with Albin Hubscher of Rollins, earning a 6-1, 7-5 win. Delanois then got past North Florida's German Escallon, the second seed in the draw, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. He shares the title with Dirk Benninghaus of Barry, who topped UCF freshman Norman Alcantara, 6-0, 6-1, in the other semifinal.
The tournament was scheduled to begin on Friday, but the start was delayed until Saturday due to inclement weather.
Freshmen Tarek Ben Soltane and Brock Sakey won three matches to claim the Flight A doubles draw. In Flight B doubles, sophomore Sinan Sudas competed with Alcantara. The pair advanced to the finals and will play freshman Jimmy Roesch and Delanois for the title on Monday at the UCF Tennis Complex.
After earning the Flight A singles top seed, senior Ener Gursoy posted a pair of wins. He topped Florida Southern's Michael Knoedler in the second round, 6-2, 6-0, and defeated Jose Terra of North Florida (6-4, 6-4) in the third round. Fifth-seeded Miles Koprivica of Florida Southern got past Gursoy, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the semifinals.
Sudas also registered two victories in the top draw. He eased past Adam Flintoff of Florida Southern in the first round (6-1, 6-4). Sudas topped Barry's Victor Rodriguez, 7-5, 6-4, before falling to Rollins' Carlos Custodio, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3.
The Golden Knights will return to the courts on Oct. 14 at the ITA Southeast Regional in Memphis, Tenn. The event will serve as UCF's final event of the fall season.