DeLand, Fla. ? The 73rd-ranked Stetson men's tennis team (13-4, 4-0 Atlantic Sun) played two matches on Thursday, beating A-Sun rival Belmont 5-2 and easing past NCAA Division III opponent Roger Williams 6-1 in the nightcap.
Against Belmont (7-6, 2-3 A-Sun), senior Filip Kricka (Umag, Croatia) and freshman Cesare Gallo (Portogruaro, Italy) were each double winners. Kricka and freshman Maksim Levanovich (Minsk, Belarus) earned a #2 doubles win over Joao Paoliello and Rodrigo Amaral by an 8-5 score while Gallo joined with junior Mark Mestan (Cologne, Germany) to clinch the doubles point with a 9-7 #3 slot win against Javier Rodriguez and Felipe Cirne Lima.
When the action moved to singles, Gallo picked up a key 6-2, 6-2 win over Renato Antun at fifth singles to push the Hatters close to clinching the match, which they did when freshman Njal Stene (Oslo, Norway) bounced Amaral 6-4, 6-4 at the #4 slot. Kricka polished it off with a #1 slot victory against Rodriguez by a 7-6, 6-3 score. Sophomore Gokay Celik (Istanbul, Turkey) also won in singles, beating Lima 6-3, 6-4 in the #6 position in the lineup.
The match against the RWU Hawks (3-7) allowed Head Coach Pierre Pilote to rest most of his starters and put four new players in the singles lineup, three of whom won. Stene and sophomore Chris Swanteson (Vaxjo, Sweden) won in singles and doubles for the Hatters. Freshman Dane Moran (Morpeth, Australia) was particularly dominant, shutting out Spencer Withington 6-0, 6-0 at #5 singles.
The Hatters host Lipscomb at 2 p.m. Saturday in Atlantic Sun Conference action; the match is the second act of a doubleheader that will see the Stetson and Lipscomb women's teams face off at 10 a.m. Both matches will be held at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center.
