(Jacksonville, Fla.) ? The North Florida Ospreys halted the Stetson men's tennis 4-match winning streak, 4-3 Tuesday afternoon.  Stetson took the doubles point and both Filip Kricka and Joey Jones earned singles victories. 

"The team played well today, an excellent effort, but Marcus having to retire early in his singles match probably made the difference,” head coach Pierre Pilote said. 

Echtler was forced to retire early in the #1 singles competition after falling behind 3-0 to Matias Sigal.  Stetson's #2 competitor, Hicham Laalej also dropped a tough three-set match. 

A-Sun Player of the Week Serguei Boulanov paired with Jones for one of the two doubles wins.  Echtler and Kricka defeated Sigal and Yuiti Lopes, 8-4 to help the Hatters earn that point.  They improved their season doubles record to 6-2. 

The Hatters fell to 0-1 in the conference, but have a week to get ready for their next A-Sun opponent.

"We will have to work extremely hard to get ready for Jacksonville next Wednesday,” Pilote said.   

Results

Stetson vs North Florida

2/20/07 at Jacksonville, Fla.

North Florida 4, Stetson 3

Doubles competition

1. Marcus Echtler/Filip Kricka (STET) def. Matias Sigal/Yuiti Lopes (UNF) 8-4

2. Serguei Boulanov/Joey Jones (STET) def. Javier Ferrin/Leonardo Gomes (UNF) 9-8

3. Eduardo Pereira/Elad Gabay (UNF) def. Hicham Laalej/Peter Dzuba (STET) 8-2

 Singles competition

1. Matias Sigal (UNF) def. Marcus Echtler (STET) 3-0

2. Eduardo Pereira (UNF) def. Hicham Laalej (STET) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

3. Ben Smith (UNF) def. Serguei Boulanov (STET) 6-3, 6-4

4. Filip Kricka (STET) def. Javier Ferrin (UNF) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

5. Joey Jones (STET) def. Elad Gabay (UNF) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5

6. Leonardo Gomes (UNF) def. Daniel Stamp (STET) 6-2, 6-4

Match Notes:

Stetson 4-5, 0-1 A-Sun

North Florida 3-5, 2-0 A-Sun