MTennis Opens ACC Play on Friday
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – With majority of the non-conference schedule complete, the No. 70 University of Miami men’s tennis team will open conference play with a match against No. 25 Clemson on Friday, March 15 at 2 p.m. at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. Miami sits at 9-4 on the season and enters Friday with a three match winning streak.
The Hurricanes, who are currently in the middle of a six-match home stand, are coming off a doubleheader last Saturday against Georgetown and Florida Gulf Coast. Miami kicked off its busy day by blanking Georgetown, 4-0, giving the Canes their first shutout victory of the season.
In the match against the Hoyas, the Canes got production from the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 singles positions as Gabriel Flores, Marco Stancati and William Albanese all recorded victories in straight sets. Flores downed Georgetown’s Daniel Khanin, 6-0, 6-1, while Stancati defeated Reese Milner, 6-2, 6-2. Albanese shut the door on Georgetown after he upended Shane Korber, 6-2, 6-2 at the fifth position.
Despite competing in a hard-fought match just hours before, Miami showed no signs of fatigue as they cruised to a 6-1 victory over Florida Gulf Coast to close out the doubleheader. The Hurricanes earned the early advantage by taking the doubles point and went on to claim five singles matches to clinch the win over the Eagles.
Entering singles play up 1-0, Miami built on the momentum it gained from doubles as the No. 2 through No. 6 singles positions all tallied wins. Gabriel Flores notched his ninth win of the season with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Tianyu Bao while Omar Aly downed Jackson Moore, 6-2, 6-2, from the fourth position.
Freshman William Albanese was entrenched in a hard-fought three set match but came out on top, defeating Lance Lvovsky 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Marco Stancati grabbed the second three set match win for the Canes, outlasting Dylan Gunning 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 5 singles. Rounding out Maimi’s scoring was Wilfredo Gonzalez, who is one of three players with nine singles wins on the team. The sophomore defeated Dean Tsamas in straight sets, winning 7-6, 6-4.
Coming off a three-match stretch in which Miami surrendered the doubles point, head coach Mario Rincon made several adjustments to the doubles lineup prior to last weekend’s doubleheader.
Omar Aly was promoted to No. 1 doubles with Wilfredo Gonzalez and the new duo got off to a solid start last weekend, beating Georgetown’s No. 1 doubles team, 8-4.
Replacing Aly’s former spot at No.2 doubles was junior Diego Soto, who moved up from the third position. Soto joined Gabriel Flores for a pair of wins last weekend, defeating Georgetown’s No. 2 doubles team, 8-3, before topping Florida Gulf Coast’s second doubles, 8-4.
No. 3 doubles also saw change as Marco Stancati teamed with Henrique Tsukamoto. The new tandem has tallied two wins so far, including a dominant 8-1 victory over FGCU last weekend.
Despite the immediate success from the new doubles lineup, Miami faces a tough opponent in Clemson, who has a doubles team ranked in the top-15. Yannick and Domonique Maden are the 11th ranked duo in the country with an unblemished 7-0 record on the season.
Clemson has had a strong start to its spring campaign and enters this weekend with an impressive 11-2 record. The Tigers have faired well in road games this season with a 6-2 record and have won six of their last seven matches, including a 5-2 win over UNC-Wilmington in their last match.
Yannick Maden, the 41st ranked player in the nation and reigning ACC Player of the Week, leads the Tigers in singles with 11 wins on the season from the No. 1 position. Austin Ansari and Hunter Harrington have also found success, earning nine and eight singles wins, respectively.
For more information on the University of Miami men’s tennis team, log on to HurricaneSports.com. To follow the UM men’s tennis team socially, visit Twitter.com/CanesMensTennis and Facebook at /MiamiHurricanesMensTennis
