March 24, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Sophomore Norman Alcantara clinched a big 4-3 victory for the UCF men's tennis team over cross-state rival USF on a sunny, but breezy, Saturday afternoon at the UCF Tennis Complex.
One of the largest attended matches of the season saw Alcantara clinching the win for the No. 62 Knights at No. 4 singles, where he pulled out a tough three-setter against USF's Henning Hipp, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, earning match point on a broken-string volley winner.
With the win, UCF improves to 11-5 overall and 4-2 in March. UCF is also 3-1 in the last four matches against the Bulls (6-10).
The afternoon started off slow for the Golden Knights. Sophomores Tarek Ben Soltane (Tunis, Tunisia) and Jimmy Roesch (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie) dropped the first doubles match of the afternoon at the No. 3 spot, 8-5, to Ales Svigelj and Marc Jaeger.
At No. 2, junior Sinan Sudas (Adana, Turkey) and freshman Johan Beigart (Vaxjo, Sweden) fell to Henning Hipp and Daniel Daudt, 8-6, giving the Bulls the doubles point. The No. 1 spot consisting of sophomores Alcantara (Mexico City, Mexico) and Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze) lost to Mahmoud Hamed and Thomas Estrada, 8-7, 1-0 (10-6).
UCF took over in singles play, winning at four of the six tilts. The Golden Knights won the first set on every court.
At No. 2, Ben Soltane rattled off a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Marc Jaeger to even up the match. Beigart gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 advantage by winning at No. 3, 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, against Mahmoud Hamed. The Swedish native improved to 9-1 at the No. 3 spot.
Senior Ener Gursoy (Adana, Turkey) continued the momentum, winning at No. 6 against Diego Toledo, 7-6(4), 6-3. Gursoy was down in the first set tiebreak, 1-4, but won six consecutive points to take the tiebreaker. Again, Gursoy was down in the second set, 3-0, and won six-consecutive games for the win.
Sudas lost a hard-fought match in a super-tiebreaker at No. 1 to Ales Svigelj, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6, 1-0 (10-3). Sakey lost the last decision of the afternoon, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 5 against Thomas Estrada.
An SGA promotion, organized by its Athletics and Tradition Coordinator Brandon Delanois, helped pack the crowd into the tennis center to see the Knights win.
The Golden Knights return to the courts, but in Boise Idaho for the Boise State Spring Break Tournament. UCF will be on the road from March 28 to March 31.
For the latest news and information on the Golden Knights, tickets or apparel, log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF athletics.