Feb. 25, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team rolled over East Carolina on Sunday morning at the UCF Tennis Complex, 6-1. For the second year in a row, the No. 71 Golden Knights (7-3) went undefeated in the UCF/Conference USA Shootout. UCF improves to a 6-1 record at home.
The morning contest started out in the right direction for UCF. Senior Sinan Sudas (Adana, Turkey) and freshman Johan Beigart (Vaxjo, Sweden) won the first doubles match at the No. 2 spot, 8-1, over Bryan Oakley and Stephen Whitwell.
East Carolina (4-8) responded by winning the second match in doubles play. Matt Peeler and Brian Walters knocked off sophomores Tarek Ben Soltane (Tunis, Tunisia) and Jimmy Roesch (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie) at the No. 3 spot, 8-3.
Sophomores Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze) and Norman Alcantara (Mexico City, Mexico) earned UCF the doubles point by winning at No. 1 against Aleksey Kochetov and Henrique Viana, 8-3. Sakey and Alcantara have been impressive as of late, winning their last six decisions and posting a 9-1 record in the last ten decisions.
Singles play, Ben Soltane completed the first match with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Matt Peeler at the No. 2 spot. The Golden Knights added another point when Alcantara rattled off consecutive 6-2 victories at No. 5 against Brian Walters. A third consecutive win came in the form of Beigart who defeated Bryan Oakley, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3. The win by Beigart, who is 9-1 in his 10 outings, clinched the match for UCF.
Ben Soltane, Alcantara and Beigart all have won their last four decisions.
The lone point for the Pirates came at the No. 4 spot with Stephen Whitwell defeating Sakey 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 4 spot.
The rest of the match belonged to the Golden Knights. Roesch won the first set 6-2 over Sam McSpadden, lost the second 7-5, but defeated McSpadden in the super tiebreaker 10-4 at No. 6. Sudas also was also forced to a super tiebreaker. The senior dropped the first match to Aleksey Kochetov 2-6, won the second set 7-6(4) and then won the super tiebreaker 10-5.
The Golden Knights next match will be at home on Sunday, March 4, against Florida A&M. First serve is slated for 9:30 a.m. at the UCF Tennis Complex.
Admission is free to all UCF home matches.
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