March 21, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team blanked Cornell, 7-0, at the UCF Tennis Complex on Friday afternoon. With the win, the Knights improve their home record to 4-1, and overall mark to 8-6. The loss drops the Big Red to 5-7 on the 2008 campaign.
"We continued to display a solid team effort in doubles and singles," said UCF head coach Bobby Cashman. "I'm proud of our veteran leadership. Sinan (Sudas) helped lead us at No. 1 by clinching both the doubles and singles points. The fan support we continue to receive is tremendous. We have a tough test against Denver tomorrow, but I hope to see another strong showing from our fans."
The Knights started the day winning at all three doubles courts.
Junior Tarek Ben Soltane (Tunis, Tunisia) and freshman Blaze Schwartz (Pensacola, Fla./Washington) won the first doubles tilt, 8-3, against Marc Asch and Mirza Klis at No. 3. The duo is 5-1 this season at court three.
Clinching the doubles point for the Knights was senior Sinan Sudas (Adana, Turkey) and freshman Claudio Romano (Valencia, Venezuela). Sudas and Romano won at No. 1, 8-4, against Kyle Doppelt and Weston Nichols. At court two, junior Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze) and sophomore Johan Beigart (Vaxjo, Sweden) earned their sixth-straight victory with a win against Joshua Goldstein and Rory Heggie, 8-5.
In singles play, the Knights only dropped two sets.
At No. 4, Ben Soltane won the first singles match of the afternoon, 6-2, 7-5, against Jonathan Fife. Romano, who gave the Knights their third point of the day, tied Ben Soltane with his ninth-singles victory. Romano knocked off Heggie in straight-sets, 6-0, 6-2.
Sudas clinched the match for UCF with his first victory at court one, prevailing 6-1, 6-4 against Doppelt.
At No. 6, Schwartz gave UCF its fifth point by taking a 6-4, 7-6(6) decision against Andy Gauthier.
Beigart and Sakey won at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in three sets.
In an exhibition match, junior Danny Colon (Jacksonville, Fla./Englewood) defeated Cornell's Jeremy Feldman, 8-6.
The Knights return to the courts tomorrow for a match against No. 44 Denver. First serve is set for 1:30 p.m. at the UCF Tennis Complex.
Admission to all UCF home matches is free.
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