Orlando, Fla. ? Following a lengthy rain delay Wednesday afternoon and evening, the Stetson men's tennis team (2-0) won five of six singles matches to capture a 6-1 road victory over archrival UCF (1-2).  The Hatters have now won 10 consecutive regular season matches dating back to last season and have won three in a row against the Knights.

Stetson opened the match by taking the #2 and #3 doubles matches to earn the first point of the proceedings.  Senior Joey Jones (Titusville, Fla.) and junior Serguei Boulanov (Bradenton, Fla.) rolled past Sinan Sudas and Claudio Romano 8-3 at the #2 position while the #3 doubles team of junior Filip Kricka (Umag, Croatia) and Hicham Laalej (Meknes, Morocco) beat UCF's Danny Colon and Nikolas Overkemping 8-4.  To speed the match along, Head Coach Pierre Pilote retired the #1 doubles team of senior Marcus Echtler (Venice, Fla.) and freshman Christopher Swanteson (Vaxjo, Sweden) with the duo down 5-2.

Echtler made quick work of Overkemping at #1 singles by a 6-1, 6-2 score while Jones kept it rolling with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Johan Beigart at the second position.  Kricka soon followed with a match-clinching 6-4, 7-5 #4 singles win over Romano that gave Stetson an insurmountable 4-0 lead with only three matches to play.

Laalej won 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) at #3 singles against Sudas while at #5 singles Boulanov rallied from a set down against Brock Sakey to win in a third-set tiebreaker.  That score was 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-5).  Colon helped the Knights avoid a sweep by knocking off Swanteson in a third-set tiebreaker 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5).

“The team once again played an excellent match on the road,” Pilote said.  “I'm very proud of the way our guys kept their focus throughout the afternoon despite the rain delay.  I know our seniors particularly enjoy this third straight win over our former A-Sun rivals.”

The Hatters return to the road Saturday when they travel to Boca Raton to face Florida Atlantic at 12 p.m.

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