April 18, 2008
DALLAS (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team opened play at the Conference USA Championship on Friday morning, posting a 4-2 first-round victory over UAB. The fifth-seeded Knights (12-8) will face either No. 1 Tulsa or No. 8 Southern Miss in the semifinals on Saturday at noon EST.
UCF claimed the doubles point against the fourth-seeded Blazers (12-3) and also won three singles matches at the SMU Tennis Center.
"We showed solid fundamentals in doubles and also played with fire," said UCF head coach Bobby Cashman. "In singles, the whole team was determined. We played with poise and tremendous will. We have more work to do in the tournament and are looking forward to tomorrow."
Junior Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze) clinched the victory for the Knights at the No. 4 singles spot. He defeated Brian Ly, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Senior Sinan Sudas (Adana, Turkey) breezed to a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 1 over Slawek Szeremeta. Sophomore Johan Beigart (Vaxjo, Sweden) also recorded a singles victory for the Knights. He was a 6-2, 6-4 winner at No. 5 over Alex Emery.
UAB entered the match ranked 70th nationally.
UCF began the contest by taking two doubles wins. Beigart and senior Nikolas Overkemping (Bonn, Germany) defeated Szeremeta and Tyrone Ewels at No. 1 (8-4). Sudas and freshman Blaze Schwartz (Pensacola, Fla./Washington) clinched the doubles point after beating Emery and Dan Cornei. The Knights earned an 8-5 victory at No. 3.
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