In the men’s tennis ASUN semi-finals, the Eagles suffered a tough 4-3 loss at the hands of Stetson. FGCU finished its season with an overall record of 9-12 and a conference record of 3-3.
“I’m extremely proud of this team today,” said head coach CJ Weber. “This was honestly our best match of the year. The guys competed with a lot of attitude, grit, and fire, they were there for each other start to finish. I thought if we did that, we would win the match, but Stetson took it from us today. They played a great match and the W went their way this time.”
To begin play, the Eagles secured doubles point as the No. 2 pair of Ezequiel Cerrini and Mateo Ruiz cruised to a 6-3 win. Following this the Eagles continued to dominate as Oliver Landert and Marcelo Tebet claimed a 6-3 victory.
This quick start gave FGCU a 1-0 advantage over the Hatters. However, singles play is where the Eagles suffered the most, ultimately ending the match with a close 4-3 loss.
Stetson tied the score at 1-1 after No. 4 Cerrini fell (4-6, 4-6). However, the Eagles responded as Ruiz and Landert secured victories on their respective courts, putting the Eagles ahead 3-1.
These were the last wins for the Eagles as both Escobar and Felipe Ramirez each lost their first and second sets.
Hoping to take the lead and earn the win, No. 6 Fernandez took a 5-4 lead in the third set tiebreaker but ended up losing serve at 5-5.