(DeLand, Fla.) ? The Stetson University men's tennis team won its third straight match with an epic 4-3 win over Florida Atlantic Saturday afternoon at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center.
“This was the closest match that I have been involved with in my 14-year career,” said head coach Pierre Pilote. “All singles went three sets and after FAU came back to win five out of six second sets, our players showed tremendous poise.”
The Hatters took the doubles point after Marcus Echtler and Filip Kricka defeated FAU's #1 doubles team, improving their season record to 5-1, and Joey Jones and Serguei Boulanov took the #2 competition.
Boulanov's #3 singles match proved to be the clincher, but he had to work for it. After winning the first set 7-5, he dropped the second set 7-6 to Corey Smith. But Boulanov fought back for a 7-6 win.
“Serguei Boulanov clinched the match for us,” Pilote said, “but not before having to break Smith's serve down 5-4 in the third set.”
Hicham Laalej improved his singles record to 6-1 with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win over Karol Szmurlo in the #2 competition. Stetson's Marcus Echtler, ranked 61 in the country, lost a heart-breaker to #63 Olivier Sajous in the #1 match.
Pilote noted that FAU's 1-6 record is deceiving. “FAU is a very talented team that lost 4-3 to both #66 Vanderbilt and #73 Furman.”
“This was excellent preparation for our conference opener at UNF on Tuesday,” Pilote said.
Results
Florida Atlantic vs Stetson University
2/10/2007 at DeLand, Fla.
Stetson University 4, Florida Atlantic 3
Doubles competition
1. ECHTLER, Marcus/KRICKA, Filip (STET) def. SZMURLO, Karol/SMITH, Corey (FAU) 9-7
2. JONES, Joey/BOULANOV, Serguei (STET) def. SAJOUS, Olivier/HARRADINE, Lawrence (FAU)8-3
3. VARDAG, Daniel/MAJCHER, Eddie (FAU) def. DZUBA, Peter/LAALEJ, Hicham (STET) 8-3
Singles competition
1. #63 SAJOUS, Olivier (FAU) def. #61 ECHTLER, Marcus (STET) 6-7, 7-6, 6-1
2. LAALEJ, Hicham (STET) def. SZMURLO, Karol (FAU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
3. BOULANOV, Serguei (STET) def. SMITH, Corey (FAU) 7-5, 6-7, 7-6
4. KRICKA, Filip (STET) def. MAJCHER, Eddie (FAU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
5. VARDAG, Daniel (FAU) def. JONES, Joey (STET) 6-1, 2-6, 6-1
6. HARRADINE, Lawrence (FAU) def. DZUBA, Peter (STET) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
Match Notes:
Florida Atlantic 1-6
Stetson University 3-4
Order of finish: Singles (4,1,5,6,2,3)
