Oct. 8, 2009
By Doug Richards
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - In September, senior Marc Rocafort (Barcelona, Spain) and junior Blaze Schwartz (Pensacola, Fla.) of the UCF men's tennis team opened play at the Southern Intercollegiates in Georgia with a first round doubles win over a talented team from USF. The Knights seemed poised to have a great tournament, but were not able to play another match at the event due to rain.
Playing together for the first time since the event in September, Rocafort and Schwartz posted a big victory Thursday afternoon as the Knights opened play at the UCF Invitational at the UCF Tennis Complex. In Doubles A Draw play, the pair topped the ninth-ranked team in the country, Diego Cubas and Ivan Machado of South Carolina, 8-5.
"Blaze and Marc had a great match up in Georgia. They played a phenomenal match," UCF head coach Bobby Cashman said. "We wanted them to play together again and see what they could do today. They were aggressive and returned very well. Overall, it was a good first day."
UCF won all three of its doubles contests Thursday against teams from South Carolina. In Doubles A Draw action, senior Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) joined sophomore Claudio Romano (Valencia, Venezuela) for an 8-4 win over Ivan Cressoni and Johannes Pulsfort.
Facing Chris Sheehan and David Wolff, sophomores Joe Delinks (Falmouth, Mass.) and Eugene Dolgovykh (Palm Coast, Fla.) were 8-6 winners.
The UCF Invitational will resume Friday at 9 a.m. when singles action begins. Admission to the event is free.
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Doubles A
Rocafort/Schwartz (UCF) def. #9 Cubas/Machado (USC) 8-5
Romano/Sakey (UCF) def. Cressoni/Pulsfort (USC) 8-4
Doubles B
Delinks/Dolgovykh (UCF) def. Sheehan/Wolff (USC) 8-6