DeLand, Fla. ? The 53rd-ranked Stetson men's tennis team (12-3) extended its winning streak to 10 matches with a 6-1 rout of visiting Cornell Sunday afternoon at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center. The Hatters had four straight-set singles victories and won two of three doubles matches.
Stetson claimed the doubles point when senior Marcus Echtler (Venice, Fla.) and junior Filip Kricka (Umag, Croatia) outlasted Kyle Doppelt and Weston Nichols 9-8 at the #1 position. This victory followed the one by senior Joey Jones (Titusville, Fla.) and sophomore Hicham Laalej (Meknes, Morocco) over Marc Asch and Mirza Klis by an 8-4 score at #3 doubles. The Hatters are 15-0 in #3 doubles matches this season.
Four Hatters reeled off dominating straight-set wins, including Echtler and Kricka, who only lost a combined total of six games in their matches. Echtler won 6-2, 6-1 at #1 singles over Doppelt while Kricka blasted Rory Heggie 6-1, 6-2 at the #4 position.
“Cornell always brings a strong team and this year was no different,” Head Coach Pierre Pilote commented. “We played very well in singles and just well enough in doubles to take the point. It's a good start to a very important week of tennis for us.”
The Hatters have a key conference road trip to USC Upstate and #42 ETSU next weekend, but first they travel to Fort Myers for a neutral-court matchup with Stony Brook at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
