MTennis to Face Rival Florida State on Sunday
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – After six consecutive home matches, dating back to March 9, the No. 65 University of Miami men’s tennis team will travel to Tallahassee, Fla, for a match against instate-rival No. 16 Florida State on Sunday, March 24 at noon at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.
“Florida State is having a really good year,” head coach Mario Rincon said. “But we are really looking forward to the challenge. It is always a match we highlight on our schedule every year. They are a solid team but we are bringing a lot of momentum into the match on Sunday.”
Miami (12-5, 1-1 ACC) enters Sunday winners of four of its last five matches, including a 6-1 victory over Georgia State in its most recent action. Against the Panthers, the Hurricanes came out strong in doubles play and went on to claim five singles wins to secure the victory.
In doubles, Miami’s No. 2 duo of Gabriel Flores and Diego Soto drew first blood with their quick 8-3 victory on court two over Paul Schuette and Thomas Cook. The Hurricanes clinched the doubles point on court three after junior Marco Stancati and sophomore Henrique Tsukamoto downed Robert Schulze and Sofiane Chevallier, 8-5.
Play was halted on court one after the doubles point was won, but sophomore Wilfredo Gonzalez and junior Omar Aly held a 6-5 lead over Victor Valente and Lucas Santa Ana.
Miami continued its strong play in singles, tabbing wins from five courts, including a trio of straight set wins.
Diego Soto highlighted singles competition with a near shutout win over Thomas Cook on court two, winning 6-1, 6-0. Marco Stancati defeated Sofiane Chevallier, 7-6, 6-4, setting up Omar Aly for his second straight match clinching win on court four, downing Robert Schulze, 6-3, 7-6.
Freshman William Albanese outlasted Paul Sceutte in a hard fought three set match, winning 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Wilfredo Gonzalez closed the match with a tough three set win over Lucas Santa Ana 4-6, 7-5, 1-0(7), giving the Guatemala City, Guatemala native his team leading 13th singles win on the dual season.
Florida State (13-4, 1-1 ACC) has enjoyed a solid dual season so far, but dropped its last match to conference foe No. 25 Clemson, 4-3.
Dominic Cotrone leads the Seminole’s singles lineup with a 12-5 record on the dual season from the No. 1 singles position, but has faced some stiff competition lately, dropping his last three singles matches. Cotrone is currently the 110th -ranked player in the nation.
Andres Bucaro and Benjamin Lock, the 22nd-ranked duo in the country, has been Florida State’s primary No. 1 doubles team with a 7-3 record on the dual season. Jordan Kelly-Houston and Anderson Reed make up the team’s second doubles tandem with a 9-3 record on the season from the second position.
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.com/MiamiHurricanesMensTennis.
