Boca Raton, Fla. ? The 11-match regular season winning streak of the Stetson men's tennis team (2-1) ended Saturday in a 5-2 loss at Florida Atlantic (1-2). Reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Week Filip Kricka (Umag, Croatia) continued his recent strong play with wins in singles and doubles. Sophomore Hicham Laalej (Meknes, Morocco) also won in singles and doubles for the Hatters.
Kricka beat FAU's Joe Cadogan at fourth singles 7-6 (4), 6-1 after teaming with Laalej to win at #3 doubles by an 8-2 score over Lawrence Harradine and Joshua Scholl. Laalej beat Corey Smith at #3 singles in straight sets: 6-2, 6-0.
The Owls would be too much for Stetson in all other matches, however. Senior Joey Jones (Titusville, Fla.) gave the nation's 56th-ranked player, Olivier Sajous, a strong challenge at #2 singles, taking the first set 6-1 before Sajous regrouped to win the final two sets by identical 6-3 scores. At sixth singles, junior Serguei Boulanov (Bradenton, Fla.) battled his Owl opponent Eddie Majcher into a third-set tiebreaker before falling 5-7, 6-4 (6-10).
“We played another great match on the road, but unfortunately the heat was a factor in the results,” Stetson Head Coach Pierre Pilote said. “We will now regroup and prepare for our next road challenge at USF.”
Stetson heads down Interstate 4 to Tampa to take on the USF Bulls, ranked 57th in the nation, Friday at 1 p.m.
