Men's Tennis Wins Third Straight
March 5, 2011
ALTAMONE SPRINGS, FLA. – The No. 34 University of Miami men’s tennis team won its third-straight match, downing UCF, 5-1, on Saturday afternoon at Sanlando Park.
The Hurricanes (6-3), who have won back-to-back road matches, were originally scheduled to face the Knights (5-6) on Friday afternoon, but rain forced the postponement of the match and then caused the cancellation of doubles play on Saturday.
But Miami didn’t need the doubles point to put UCF away, winning the No. 2 through No. 6 singles matches.
Keith Crowley, Carl Sundberg, Eduardo Pavia and Gabriel Flores each earned their third-straight singles matches, with Pavia knocking off UCF’s Joe Delinks at No. 5 in straight sets to improve to a team-best 13-7 in his first season as a Hurricane.
“Today’s match was really close, but we were able to come through in the big points,” said Pavia. “In my opinion, I think it was huge for Christian [Blöcker] to come back and level his match because that gave momentum to the rest of us.”
Christian Blöcker dropped his first set at No. 2 to UCF’s Erik Brunskog, 4-6, and then battled back 7-6 to force a third set – which he won for the Hurricanes, 6-1, to even his singles record this season at 9-9. After going 3-6 in fall tournament play, he has put together a 6-3 mark at No. 2 in dual match competition.
“We started off slow today on a couple of courts,” said Blöcker, “but were able to stay mentally focused and tough. We waited for our chances and capitalized on them to get another important in-state road win.”
“It was a hard-fought match,” said head coach Mario Rincon. “UCF is a young, talented and well-coached team, but we were able to win the most important points.”
Miami is a perfect 4-0 versus in-state opponents this season, including a 2-0 mark away from home. The Hurricanes put that streak on the line Sunday as they travel to USF for a noon match.
#34 Miami 5, UCF 1
Singles
1. Blaze Schwartz (UCF) def. Waylon Chin (UM), 6-4, 6-4
2. Christian Blocker (UM) def. Erik Brunskog (UCF), 4-6, 7-6, 6-1
3. Keith Crowley (UM) def. Claudio Romano (UCF), 6-2, 6-3
4. Carl Sundberg (UM) def. Leonel Vivas (UCF), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
5. Eduardo Pavia (UM) def. Joe Delinks (UCF), 6-3, 7-6
6. Gabriel Flores (UM) def. Mitch Thams (UCF), 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
