Columbus, Ohio ? The 64th-ranked Stetson men's tennis team (2-2) completed the ITA Season Kickoff event today with a tough 4-0 loss to 41st-ranked New Mexico (3-1). The Hatters led all three of the uncompleted singles matches, which were stopped due to time constraints.
The key to the match occurred at #1 doubles where UNM's Miles Bugby and Johnny Parkes were able to scrape past the Hatter duo of senior Filip Kricka (Umag, Croatia) and freshman Maksim Levanovich (Minsk, Belarus) 9-8 on a tiebreaker. That victory, coupled with an earlier win at #2 doubles, gave the Lobos the doubles point. Stetson did get a win at #3 doubles as freshman Njal Stene (Oslo, Norway) and sophomore Chris Swanteson (Vaxjo, Sweden) defeated Ben Dunbar and Phil Anderson 8-5.
Stene, Levanovich and freshman Cesare Gallo (Portogruaro, Italy) were all leading their singles matches when play was stopped. New Mexico had already recorded victories in the three other matches to clinch the four points necessary for team victory. Junior Mark Mestan (Cologne, Germany) put up a good battle at #2 singles against 86th-ranked Graeme Kassautzki, falling 6-4, 6-3.
“We had our chances today, but unfortunately we just ended up on the wrong end of a match that was played on a very high level,” Head Coach Pierre Pilote said.
Stetson is back in action Saturday, February 14 for its home and conference opener against Florida Gulf Coast at 10:30 a.m. The Hatter women will also face FGCU immediately afterwards; both matches will be at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center.
