Feb. 14, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team collected its fourth victory of the season when it defeated Samford, 7-0, Saturday. The Knights (4-3) return to the Yarbrough Tennis Center Sunday, when they face Auburn at 1 p.m.
"This was a great team effort all the way through from the start of doubles until the end of singles," said head coach Bobby Cashman after the 7-0 victory. " The preparation showed today and we stuck with the game plan and attacked much more. Samford was a scrappy team and fought hard, but at critical points we elevated our level and ran the right plays."
UCF took charge of the match early when junior Johan Beigart (Vaxjo, Sweden) and freshman Joe Delinks (Falmouth, Mass.) quickly disposed of Samford's Michael Browder and Carlos Abalos, 8-1. Beigart and Delinks lost the first two points of the match and then proceeded to take 20 straight, which put them up 5-0. Over the last four games the duo only dropped five more points.
Junior Marc Rocafort (Barcelona, Spain) and sophomore Blaze Schwartz (Pensacola, Fla.) teamed up to give the Knights their second doubles win, and the first point of the match. The duo defeated Brian Dushock and Kelwin DeWet, 8-6.
Heading into singles with the one point advantage, the Knights proceeded to take all six singles matches.
Schwartz recorded his sixth singles victory of the year when he took out Browder, 6-1,6-0. The sophomore is now 6-1 on the season, and has collected three wins at the No. 3 spot.
Finishing second, Beigart defeated Samford's Carson Kadi, 6-3, 6-3, good enough for his third victory of the year at the No. 2 spot. Freshman Eugene Dolgovykh (Palm Coast, Fla.) collected his fourth win of the term when he knocked off DeWet, 6-2, 6-3, in the fifth position.
In just his second appearance of the season in singles, Delinks won a, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, decision over Richard Walsh at the No. 6 spot. Senior Tarek Ben Soltane (Tunis, Tunisia) worked hard for his fourth victory as he defeated Dushock at the top spot, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Rocafort also faced a one set deficit when he came back to defeat Abalos, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6, (2) at the No. 4 spot.
After their tilt against Auburn tomorrow, the Knights head back to the Sunshine State to compete in eight-straight home matches.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.