Sept. 16, 2011
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By Doug Richards
UCFAthletics.com
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team began its fall season Friday at the Gator Invitational at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The Knights squared off against players from USF. Florida Atlantic and host Florida are also competing in the event.
Two Knights picked up singles victories during the day, and one UCF doubles tandem was also victorious.
Making his UCF debut, sophomore Francesc Aulina (Barcelona, Spain) recorded a victory over Federico Sabogal, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. He fought off cramping and being down 2-4 and love-40 to rally and win 6-4. Junior Mario Samson (Miami, Fla.) rallied for an 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Lucas Marin-Salcedo.
In doubles, Aulina joined sophomore Matthew Gladstone (Surfside, Fla.) for an 8-5 win over Marin-Salcedo and Guillermo De Vilchez. Sophomores Juan Bolona (Miami, Fla.) and Mitch Thams (Queensland, Australia) came back from behind but fell 9-8 in a tiebreaker to Juan Carlos Acuna and Sebastian Hagn.
"For our first competition of the season, I think we played hard. We found out a lot about our team today and will continue to learn as the weekend progresses," UCF head coach Bobby Cashman said.
The Knights will return to the courts Saturday morning. The tournament will conclude Sunday.
The event is the first of six this fall for the Knights.
Singles Competition
Francesc Aulina (UCF) def. Federico Sabogal (USF) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
Juan Carlos Acuna (USF) def. Mitch Thams (UCF) 6-4, 6-2
Mario Samson (UCF) def. Lucas Marin-Salcedo (USF) 0-6, 6-2, 6-3
Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) def. Joe Delinks (UCF) 6-4, 6-4
Oliver Pramming (USF) def. Matthew Gladstone (UCF) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
Guillermo De Vilchez (USF) def. Juan Bolona (UCF) 6-3, 7-5
Doubles Competition
Kilani/Sabogal (USF) def. Delinks/Dolgovykh (UCF) 8-3
Acuna/Hagn (USF) def. Bolona/Thams (UCF) 9-8
Aulina/Gladstone (UCF) def. Marin-Salcedo/De Vilchez (USF) 8-5