Hurricanes start strong at UM Invitational
Oct. 9, 2010
CORAL GABLES, FLA. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team started strong at the inaugural UM Invitational, winning 8 matches combined in singles and doubles, tied for the most of any team on day one.
Seniors Christian Blocker, Carl Sundberg, and Eduardo Pavia were all victorious in singles. The fourth and final singles win of the day came from freshman Omar Aly, who collected the first singles win of his career.
Blocker, ranked #72 in the nation, struggled at the beginning against Florida State’s Blake Davis, dropping the first set 2-6, before recovering to win the second set 6-2 and the match tiebreaker 10-7.
“Christian did a great job today after a slow start, just staying in it, and digging down deep to come back and get a good win,” Assistant Coach C.J. Weber said.
Sundberg, ranked #96 in the nation, made quick work of Florida State’s Anderson Reed, winning 7-5, 6-1.However, it was Pavia who may have been the most impressive, winning his singles match against Mike Ward of Arkansas 7-6(7-1), 6-1, as well as partnering with fellow senior Waylong Chin for two 8-3 wins in doubles.
“[Pavia and Chin] played really well together today. It’s still very early in the season, but we like the chemistry that those two have, and hopefully they can continue to work and get better,” Weber said.
Aly beat Taj Harrison of Arkansas 6-1, 6-4 for an impressive first win of his career, then followed it up with a doubles win alongside Sundberg.
“That win was big for Omar, and so was that doubles performance, I was happy to see that out of him today,” Weber said.
The final win of the day for the Hurricanes came during the second session of doubles, as Blocker and sophomore Santiago Nieto beat Andres Bucaro and Owen Long of Florida state 8-2
“We’ve got a long weekend ahead of us, so we just want to make sure that our guys are taking care of themselves, getting good rest tonight, and preparing for their two singles matches tomorrow,” Weber said.
Tomorrow, all four sessions of the UM Invitation will feature singles matches. Play starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, admission is free.
