March 11, 2008
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Playing its first of four matches in the state of California, the UCF men's tennis team trounced Montana State on Tuesday, 6-1, at the world-renowned La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. In front of many UCF alumni, the Knights earned their third-straight win, improving to an overall record of 6-5.
"Although this is a good win for us, we're already focused on our match against Cal Poly tomorrow," said UCF head coach Bobby Cashman. "With our guys getting healthier, I see us finally getting to where we want to be competing at as a team. We had some great support today in the stands and I was excited to see some familiar faces in the stands."
UCF started the match off right with back-to-back doubles wins to notch the first point of the afternoon. At No. 3, junior Tarek Ben Soltane (Tunis, Tunisia) and freshman Blaze Schwartz (Pensacola, Fla./Washington) blew past Justin Hauck and Pawel Turzanski, 8-2. The duo is now 3-0 this season.
Junior Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze) and sophomore Johan Beigart (Vaxjo, Sweden) kept pace at court two, earning an 8-3 win against Fletcher Keyes and Myles Perkins. Sakey and Beigart also improved their record to 3-0 at No. 2.
In singles play, UCF took wins at five of the six courts.
The Bobcats' (7-5) lone point came from Kyle McDonald who defeated Beigart, 6-2, 6-5, at No. 1.
Ben Soltane, the Conference USA Player of the Week, continued his dominance, moving to 7-0 this year with a 6-2, 6-0 win against Keyes at No. 4.
Schwartz preserved his perfect singles record with a win at No. 6 against David Kovas. Schwartz prevailed with identical 6-0 victories.
At No. 2, senior Sinan Sudas (Adana, Turkey) took a 6-1, 6-2 decision against Turzanski. The senior improved his win total to six at the No. 2 spot.
Freshman Claudio Romano (Valencia, Venezuela) clinched the match for the Knights at No. 5. Romano, who also has six singles victories, blew past Hauck, 6-0, 6-1.
The Knights are 9-2 at the No. 5 singles spot this season.
Although junior Danny Colon (Jacksonville, Fla./Englewood) did not compete, he did win an exhibition match.
The Knights return to the courts on Wednesday against Cal Poly. First serve at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club is set for noon.
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