Taboada Clinches Season-Opening Win for No. 17 Men's Tennis
Jan. 22, 2009
Coral Gables, Fla. – After dropping the doubles point, the No. 17 University of Miami men’s tennis team bounced back to claim the 4-3 season-opening win over visiting Florida Atlantic at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on a cold Thursday evening.
Miami sophomore Keith Crowley used a dominating 6-3, 6-1 win at the No. 5 position to even the score at 1-all. The Hurricanes would win three-straight singles matches – including straight-sets victories by No. 96 Carl Sundberg at No. 4 and David Simon at No. 2 – to open the 3-1 lead.
However a talented Florida Atlantic squad did not fold. Owl freshman Santiago Nieto – younger brother of UM junior Hector Nieto – claimed the 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 win at No. 6 to bring FAU within one point, trailing 3-2.
With the match-clinching fourth point on the line, the competition at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions – both featuring young Hurricanes competing in their first dual matches for UM – heated up and headed into third sets.
Freshman Ignacio Taboada registered the win for Miami, defeating FAU’s Lawrence Harradine, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to give the 17th-ranked Hurricanes a 1-0 start to the season, dropping the Owls to 2-2.
“After losing the doubles point, I went out into my singles match wanting to even things out and get the guys back to 1-all,” said Crowley.
“We needed every ounce of energy that we had to beat this much-improved FAU team,” said fifth-year head Miami men’s tennis coach Mario Rincon. “We were very nervous when the match got tight, but we overcame that and our guys were tough at the end.
“The new guys played well and they will only get better. Keith had a great singles match and evened out the score for us. We hope to continue to play better this weekend and to build on this.”
The Hurricanes return to competition on Sun., Jan. 25, taking on No. 24 Rice at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center at 10 a.m. Admission is free.
No. 17 Miami 4, Florida Atlantic 3
Singles
1. Marc Abdelnour (FAU) def. Christian Blocker (UM), 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
2. David Simon (UM) def. Daniel Vardag (FAU), 6-2, 7-6
3. Ignacio Taboada def. Lawrence Harradine (FAU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
4. No. 96 Carl Sundberg (UM) def. Joshua Scholl (FAU), 6-1, 7-5
5. Keith Crowley (UM) def. Eddie Majcher (FAU), 6-3, 6-1
6. Santiago Nieto (FAU) def. JC Whitner (UM), 6-4, 0-6, 6-2
Order of Finish: 5, 4, 2, 6, 3*, 1
Doubles
1. Eddie Majcher/Marc Abdelnour (FAU) def. Keith Crowley/David Rosenfeld (UM), 9-7
2. Christian Blocker/David Simon (UM) def. Daniel Vardag/Joshua Scholl (FAU), 8-5
3. Lawrence Harradine/Santiago Nieto (FAU) def. Ignacio Taboada/Carl Sundberg (UM), 9-7
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1*
