DeLAND, Fla. - The Stetson Hatters opened their season on Monday afternoon at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center, where they fell to the South Florida Bulls, 5-2.

After dropping the doubles point, the Hatters battled in singles play. Lucas Olivier earned the team's first singles point, while Christian Kuehne secured his first win as a Hatter. Sami Ozzor pushed his match to a decisive third set but ultimately fell in a hard-fought 12-10 tiebreaker.

Despite the loss, the Hatters displayed resilience in their season debut.
 

Doubles:
#1: Toto Llanes / Tom Pavlekovich-Smith [USF] def. Marc Saura / Juan Jose Rodriguez Garceran [STETSON] 6-0
#2: Stepan Mruzek / Agustin Cuellar [USF] def. Ervin Haris Eminefendic / Xavier Sarda Marti [STETSON] 6-3
#3: Ben Hudson / Ettore Danesi [USF] v Christian Kuehne / Eder Blanco [STETSON] 5-4 UF
 Order of Finish: 1, 2

Singles:
#1: Elijah Cham [USF] def. Eder Blanco [STETSON] 6-3,6-4
#2: Agustin Cuellar [USF] def. Ervin Haris Eminefendic 7-5,6-0
#3: Christian Kuehne [STETSON] def. Toto Llanes [USF] 6-4, 3-6, 10-7
#4: Lucas Olivier [STETSON] def. Ettore Danesi [USF] 6-2, 6-4
#5: Gughi Verdese [USF] def. Xavier Sarda Marti 6-2, 6-3
#6: Ben Hudson [USF] def. Sami Ozzor 6⁴-7⁷, 6-4, 12-10
 Order of Finish: 4, 5, 1, 2, 6, 3

WORDS FROM COACH:
"Regardless of the outcome, I told the guys I know how good we are," Head Coach Christophe Noblet said. "The slight difference I noticed, especially at the beginning, was that USF seemed a little more match-ready than we were. That's normal at the start of the season—you get some jitters. Once you shake those off, that's when you hit full throttle.

"USF was ready to put their foot on the pedal right away, and it took us a little longer to get going. By the middle of singles, we found our rhythm, and from there, it was a real battle back and forth. Credit to USF for hanging in there and taking it away from us. But there's definitely a lot to learn from this, and we have plenty of those matches coming up. That's what we need—we need those tough battles."

UP NEXT:
Stetson will return to the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center on Friday, Jan. 24 when they face former ASUN foe Kennesaw State at 2:00 PM. Last time the two met was in the ASUN Championship Semifinals when Stetson knocked the Owls out of contention with a 4-1 win.