In the first match of the season versus UNC Wilmington, the FGCU men’s tennis just narrowly missed out on their first win of the season falling 4-3 to the five-time Colonial champions on Sunday.
FGCU had a 3-1 lead after winning the double points and Felipe Escobar and Javier Fernandez’s singles match wins, but they were unable to grab that final match as FGCU fell to 0-1 on the season.
“UNCW played a great match today,” head coach CJ Weber said. “They played at a high level consistently throughout doubles and singles, and I believe that was the reason they got the win. I absolutely loved the way we played doubles today. That was a huge positive we can take away from the match. UNCW got us today, but I don’t think we’re going to lose too many matches this year when we win the doubles point.”
The afternoon started with the duo of Oliver Landert and Felipe Ramirez winning their doubles match 7-5. Javier Fernandez and Austin Bates also won 6-3 for the first points of the day.
After the Seahawks took the win at No. 3 singles to even the score at 1, Fernandez picked up his second win of the day at 6-2, 6-4 to reclaim the lead again for FGCU.
Shortly after in his first singles match with the Eagles, Escobar eased to a 6-1, 7-5 win to put the Eagles on the verge of victory, but they were unable to win that final match.
Landert was defeated in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, and FGCU needed wins versus two players that combined for 22 wins last season, but both men dropped the opening set.
Despite Ezequiel Cerrini bringing the second set to a tiebreak, neither player could pull of the win in their respective matches.