(DeLand, Fla.) ? The Stetson University men's tennis team solidified its standing in the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 5-2 win over Belmont Sunday afternoon at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center. Stetson swept the doubles portion and took four of the six singles matches to defeat the Bruins in a rematch of last year's A-Sun Tournament Finals.
“Our doubles played extremely well today and it gave up momentum for the singles matches,” head coach Pierre Pilote said. “The whole team played solid tennis today. We worked very hard to prepare for this match and it showed.”
Freshman Hicham Laalej continued to roll, posting a 6-3, 6-1 victory in No. 2 singles. Serguei Boulanov, Daniel Stamp, and Peter Dzuba also picked up singles victories on Sunday.
The No. 84-ranked doubles tandem of Marcus Echtler and Filip Kricka took out Javier Rodriguez and Fausto Rocha, 8-5, to run their season record to 13-3.
“With the conference championship around the corner, I like the way our team is fighting through this difficult schedule,” Pilote said.
Results
Belmont University vs Stetson University
3/25/2007 at DeLand, Fla.
Stetson University 5, Belmont University 2
Singles competition
1. GILLOTT, Alex (BEL) def. ECHTLER, Marcus (STET) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. LAALEJ, Hicham (STET) def. RODRIGUEZ, Javier (BEL) 6-3, 6-1
3. ROCHA, Fausto (BEL) def. KRICKA, Filip (STET) 6-3, 7-5
4. BOULANOV, Serguei (STET) def. GESTO, Ignacio (BEL) 6-2, 6-2
5. STAMP, Daniel (STET) def. ABREU, Felipe (BEL) 6-3, 6-4
6. DZUBA, Peter (STET) def. ZOLA, Zach (BEL) 6-1, 3-6, 10-5
Doubles competition
1. #84 ECHTLER, Marcus/KRICKA, Filip (STET) def. RODRIGUEZ, Javier/ROCHA, Fausto (BEL) 8-5
2. JONES, Joey/BOULANOV, Serguei (STET) def. GILLOTT, Alex/GESTO, Ignacio (BEL) 8-3
3. DZUBA, Peter/STAMP, Daniel (STET) def. ABREU, Felipe/ZOLA, Zach (BEL) 8-6
Match Notes:
Belmont University 3-4, 1-3 A-Sun
Stetson University 13-6, 5-2 A-Sun
