No. 24 Men's Tennis Triumphs Over Texas Tech, 4-2No. 24 Men's Tennis Triumphs Over Texas Tech, 4-2

No. 24 Men's Tennis Triumphs Over Texas Tech, 4-2

by Logan Hasselbach

ORLANDO - The No. 24 UCF men’s tennis team got back to its winning ways Thursday evening, triumphing over Texas Tech in a 4-2 battle. The Knights powered through to win four singles courts for their third Big 12 conference play victory.

We were pretty tough in singles, it was difficult, but we’re proud of the guys for stepping up and finishing the job. Mehdi has been just a rock down at courts five and six. We expected him to come through for us and he did.

Lloyd Bruce-BurgessHead Coach

Doubles play began with a back-and-forth tussle for Santiago Giamichelle and Francisco Llanes, that ended victoriously for UCF, with the tandem taking the match on court two, 6-4. Courts one and three kept it close throughout the matches, but they eventually fell in tight tiebreaks.

The momentum shifted as the teams entered singles play, with UCF taking four of the six available first sets.On court one, Lleyton Cronje faced off against No. 43 Olle Wallin, who is coming off a win over the top singles player in the nation. Wallin got off to a quick 3-0 start, but Cronje flipped the script after the second changeover and took six of the last seven games to claim the first set, 6-4. The fifth-year continued to press on the gas in the second and evened the overall match score at one point apiece with a 6-4, 6-1 decision.

 

On court three, Liam Branger bounced back from his loss last week against Oklahoma to give the Knights their first advantage of the evening. A battle of a first set, 6-4, led to a dominant second, providing a straight-set victory for the Frenchman, 6-4, 6-2, and a 2-1 lead for the Black and Gold.

The Red Raiders evened the tally at two with a win at court two, but the Knights were not going to go without a fight. Seconds after court two fell, Paul Colin, playing in his first singles match since mid-March, put the squad up again. The sophomore demonstrated grit at court four and prevailed in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, to move UCF within one point of clinching the match. Colin remains undefeated at the fourth singles position this season, boasting a perfect 4-0 record.

Mehdi Benchakroun came through just like he always does, this time in a clinching fashion. The Moroccan earned his team-leading 13th singles win of the season with a clutch 6-2, 6-4 victory at court six. Benchakroun has clinched two conference wins, including the first conference win in program history at Baylor.

 

With the match clinched, court five went unfinished, where Giamichelle was leading 3-1 after narrowly dropping the first set 7-5.

 

UP NEXT

The Knights will play one final match at home this regular season Saturday, when BYU comes to the USTA National Campus. First serve time for the match is set for 6 p.m., with Senior Knight festivities taking place prior.

Singles competition

1. Lleyton Cronje (UCF) def. #43 Olle Wallin (TTU) 6-4, 6-1

2. Reed Collier (TTU) def. Francisco Llanes (UCF) 6-2, 6-4

3. Liam Branger (UCF) def. Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) 6-4, 6-2

4. Paul Colin (UCF) def. Niksa Arsic (TTU) 6-3, 6-3

5. Santiago Giamichelle (UCF) vs. Sebastian Abboud (TTU) 5-7, 3-1, unfinished

6. Mehdi Benchakroun (UCF) def. Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles competition

1. #24 Piotr Pawlak/Sebastian Abboud (TTU) def. Lleyton Cronje/Liam Branger (UCF) 7-6 (7-2)

2. Francisco Llanes/Santiago Giamichelle (UCF) def. Reed Collier/Takeyasu Sekiguchi (TTU) 6-4

3. Olle Wallin/Niksa Arsic (TTU) def. Mehdi Benchakroun/Paul Colin (UCF) 7-6 (9-7)

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,3,2,4,6)