No. 21 Men's Tennis Sweeps FAU in Season Opener
Jan. 21, 2010
Coral Gables, Fla. – The No. 21 University of Miami men’s tennis team won all three doubles matches and all six singles matches to sweep visiting Florida Atlantic, 7-0, at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in the Hurricanes’ spring season opener on Thursday evening.
With the win, the Hurricanes (1-0) extend their all-time series lead over the Owls (1-1) to 6-0.
“It’s great that we have finally started the season after practicing so much,” said sixth-year head coach Mario Rincon. “The guys played well. FAU has a solid team and we had a battle with them.
“I think that this year our guys were extremely ready from the beginning and a couple of matches went our way. Starting with the doubles win was really important. We’re just really excited to get our season going and hopefully we can achieve great things.”
Sophomore transfer Waylon Chin, playing in his first dual match for the Hurricanes, clinched the win for Miami with the 6-1, 6-4 victory over FAU senior Daniel Vardag at the No. 3 position. He was one of four Hurricanes to win in straight sets, along side senior David Simon – ranked No. 120 in the nation, sophomore Ignacio Taboada and junior Keith Crowley.
All-American junior Carl Sundberg, opening spring play ranked No. 57, made a successful debut in the No. 1 spot on Thursday. After dropping the first set 5-7 to Marc Abdelnour, Sundberg battled back to even the match by taking the second set, 6-2, and then claimed the match with a 10-7 decision in the tiebreak.
Junior Christian Blöcker, ranked No. 114 in the nation, also rallied for the win at No. 2, knocking off Lawrence Harradine, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.
Miami started the evening strong, as Sundberg and Taboada combined forces to cruise to the 8-1 victory at the No. 3 doubles position. Blöcker and Simon earned the doubles point with the 8-4 win at No. 1.
The UM men’s team returns to competition on Sat., Jan. 23, in part two of a Miami tennis doubleheader. The seventh-ranked women’s team takes on the FAU women at noon, followed by the men playing host to Stetson at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center at 6 p.m. Admission is free to both events.
No. 21 Miami 7, Florida Atlantic 0
Singles
1. #57 Carl Sundberg (UM) def. Marc Abdelnour (FAU) 5-7, 6-2, 10-7
2. #114 Christian Blocker (UM) def. Lawrence Harradine (FAU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-1
3. Waylon Chin (UM) def. Daniel Vardag (FAU) 6-1, 6-4
4. Keith Crowley (UM) def. Ervin Garibovic (FAU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Ignacio Taboada (UM) def. Joshua Scholl (FAU) 6-3, 6-3
6. #120 David Simon (UM) def. Georg Matschke (FAU) 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6, 5, 3*, 2, 4, 1
Doubles
1. Christian Blocker/David Simon (UM) def. Lawrence Harradine/Marc Abdelnour (FAU) 8-4
2. Keith Crowley/Waylon Chin (UM) def. Daniel Vardag/Joshua Scholl (FAU) 9-8
3. Carl Sundberg/Ignacio Taboada (UM) def. Ervin Garibovic/Georg Matschke (FAU) 8-1
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2
