PALO ALTO, Calif. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men’s tennis team dropped their ITA Kickoff Weekend opener to No. 10 Stanford by a score of 4-1.
“We played at a good level today against Stanford,” said Director of Tennis John Roddick, “We had a couple chances in the doubles point to take control, but we let them get away. We competed very will in singles, especially at No. 1.”
The match began with Stanford claiming the doubles point. All contests were tight, with court one finishing first 7-5 where Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel were narrowly edged by Axel Geller and Alexandre Rotsaert. Court two finished with Stanford’s Sameer Kumar and Timothy Sah edging Gabriel Decamps and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi 6-3 to lock up the first point of the match for the Cardinal. For the second time in as many matches, Mikhail Sokolovskiy and Alan Rubio’s doubles match went unfinished. They trailed 5-4 when the point was clinched.
Stanford claimed the first point in singles play when No. 29 Kumar bested Pavel 6-3, 6-1 on court five.
The Knights grabbed a point on court six as No. 88 Sokolovskiy moved to 2-0 on the season as he defeated Jack Barber 6-2, 6-3. This was the first time that Stanford has lost a point during the 2019 season.
Stanford’s next point came on court two, as No. 64 Rotsaert defeated No. 57 Grassi Mazzuchi 6-3, 7-5. The Cardinal would go on to seal the match on court three where No. 101 William Genesen edged No. 107 Hilderbrand in a dog fight. Hilderbrand dropped the first set 0-6 but then came back on a tear to win set two 6-2. The third set went the way of Gensen 6-2.
The other two matches that went unfinished were thrillers. Stanford’s No. 20 Geller jumped out to a 5-1 lead over No. 31 Decamps in set one on court one. Decamps battled back to even the set at 5-5 before falling 7-5. Decamps would go on to win the second set 6-3 in his season debut. Court four also went unfinished as No. 79 Rubio dropped the first set to Genender 3-6 before bouncing back in set two 6-2.
UP NEXT
The Knights will face the Minnesota Gophers tomorrow at 2 p.m. to conclude ITA Kickoff Weekend. Minnesota dropped their weekend opener 4-1 to Oregon.
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