DeLand, Fla. - Although it had to wait an extra three days due to a rainout at 21st-ranked Miami on Saturday, the Stetson men's tennis team (1-0) got off to a fine start in its 2010 regular season opener Tuesday afternoon at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center, sweeping Volusia County rival Bethune-Cookman 7-0. Five Hatters were double winners with freshman Didrik Berg (Oslo, Norway) and junior Alex Hackett (Surrey, England) claiming their first career collegiate dual match wins.
The Hatters raced through the doubles matches with only three dropped games out of 27 total played. Berg and junior Chris Swanteson (Vaxjo, Sweden) won 8-0 at #1 doubles, as did senior Mark Mestan (Cologne, Germany) and sophomore Njal Stene (Oslo, Norway) at #3 doubles.
All six Stetson singles players earned straight set victories as only Berg was even pushed to a second set tiebreaker, that by Yannick Jackson at #4 singles. Hackett dominated Cristian Cruz 6-0, 6-1 at the #5 slot while sophomore Maksim Levanovich recorded a perfect 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Emil Vassilev at the #2 position. The Wildcats dropped to 0-1 with the loss.
Stetson is off until Saturday, February 6 when it gets an early start on Atlantic Sun Conference play by visiting Florida Gulf Coast. The match begins at 10 a.m. in Fort Myers, Fla.
