Feb. 24, 2008
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team dropped a close 4-3 decision against East Carolina in its final match at the 2008 Conference USA Shootout at the Hattiesburg Racquet Club. The Knights fell to 3-5 on the season and 1-2 in league play, while the Pirates improved to 6-6 overall and 1-2 in C-USA.
The doubles point was decided in the final match at the No. 1 court. Senior Sinan Sudas (Adana, Turkey) and freshman Claudio Romano (Valencia, Venezuela) won at No. 2, 9-7, against Aleksey Kochetov and Henrik Skalmerud to even doubles play at one apiece.
Junior Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze) and sophomore Johan Beigart (Vaxjo, Sweden) battled Jaroslav Horvath and Henrique Viana doubles No. 1 and forced the match into a tiebreaker. Sakey and Beigart ultimately fell 9-8(4), yielding the doubles point to East Carolina.
"We are really improving in singles play," said UCF head coach Bobby Cashman. "We still have to improve in doubles. We're not as sharp as we want to be yet."
In singles play, the Knights fought back and forth with the Pirates.
Junior Tarek Ben Soltane (Tunis, Tunisia) evened the match at one with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 against Skalmerud. Ben Soltane improved to improved to 4-0 on the season, earning his first win at No. 4.
After the Pirates jumped ahead 2-1, Romano tied the match at No. 5 with identical 6-1 victories against Bryan Oakley.
East Carolina clinched the contest with back-to-back wins at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.
Beigart ended the afternoon with a three-set win at court one against Horvath, 6-0, 5-7, 7-5. The sophomore has won two-straight singles matches.
The Knights have nine days before facing No. 73 Georgia State at the UCF Tennis Complex on March 5. First serve is set for 2 p.m.
Admission to all UCF home matches is free.
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