Men's Tennis Downs Charleston For Fifth Straight, 7-0
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team lost only two sets on its way to a fifth straight victory Friday afternoon, sweeping the College of Charleston 7-0 at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
The Hurricanes (6-2) were momentarily slowed down at the No. 1 and No. 5 positions and by the first rain delay of the season, but held the Cougars (3-4) pointless to remain perfect (5-0) at home.
“A good win against a good College of Charleston team,” Miami head coach Aljosa Piric said. “We had slow starts in a couple of singles matches, but our guys hung in there and turned things around to give us a little bit of momentum shift in a couple of spots and we ended up closing those two out.”
After Miami’s No. 3 duo, senior Christian Langmo and redshirt sophomore Dane Dunlap, cruised to a 6-1 victory over Ksawery Pociej and Fernando Lascurian to improve to 7-1 on the season, senior Nile Clark and freshman Pablo Aycart secured the Hurricanes’ seventh doubles point this spring with a 6-4 triumph over Alec Angradi and Youssef Dabbabi at the No. 2 position.
Fort the fifth time this spring, freshmen Adria Soriano and Bojan Jankulovski, could not finish their match before doubles play halted. The No. 2 tandem were locked in at 4-4 with Charleston’s Juan Estevarena and Benedikt Henning.
Miami’s second point and first singles victory came from the bottom of the lineup with freshman Tatsuki Shimamoto besting the Cougars’ No. 6, Thomas, 6-1, 6-3.
Dunlap completed his own sweep at No. 4 to go undefeated on the day. Despite falling down 3-0 early in the first set, the Canada-born junior went on to win 12 of the last 14 games for a 6-4, 6-1 win over Angradi.
Despite being pushed to a tiebreaker in the second set, Soriano picked up a win against Henning after all, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in the No. 2 matchup. The freshman improved to 6-1 in the spring, all of those wins coming in straight sets.
Soriano’s doubles partner, No. 3 Jankulovski, was also not denied a victory on the day, despite being caught into the longest-last first set of the duel. The freshman won the last two games in it to grab momentum for a dominant showing in set two against Ryan Kahn, 6-4, 6-1.
“Credit goes to Tatsuki down at 6, who got off the court quickly, to Dane on turning around his match and getting a W for us, and also to [Jankulovski] and Adri, who both got off the court fairly fast,” Piric said.
Langmo and fellow senior Niclas Genovese did not allow the 10-minute rain delay to break their focus and finished off their third-set matches to complete the sweep. Langmo battled back after losing a second-set tiebreaker to overcome Estevarena, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 10-7, and extend his win streak to five singles matches.
Genovese was the only Hurricane who fell a set behind on the day, but responded appropriately and downed Pociej, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, for his sixth straight win of the season.
Miami will open conference play on the road next weekend, visiting Georgia Tech Friday, March 2, and Clemson two days later.
“That’s what everything is for,” Piric said. “We try to get our guys in a good position to compete against ACC opposition. We know that everybody is good in the ACC and we will be ready to compete and battle. We challenge our guys to take care of the details and really prepare their minds and bodies for what’s to come in next month to month and a half.”
For all of the latest news around Miami’s men’s tennis team, follow @CanesMensTennis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,or go to HurricaneSports.com.
RESULTS
Doubles Competition
1. Adria Soriano/Bojan Jankulovski (UM) vs. Juan Estevarena/Benedikt Henning, 4-4, unf.
2. Pablo Aycart /Nile Clark (UM) def. Alec Angradi/Youssef Dabbabi (CC), 6-4
3. Dane Dunlap/Christian Langmo (UM) def. Ksawery Pociej/Fernando Lascurian (CC), 6-1
Singles Competition
1. Christian Langmo (UM) def. Juan Estevarena (CofC), 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 10-7
2. Adria Soriano (UM) def. Benedikt Henning (CofC), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
3. Bojan Jankulovski (UM) def. Ryan Kahn (CofC), 6-4, 6-1
4. Dane Dunlap (UM) def. Alec Angradi (CofC), 6-4, 6-2
5. Niclas Genovese (UM) def. Ksawery Pociej (CofC), 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
6. Tatsuki Shimamoto (UM) def. Easton Thomas (CofC), 6-1, 6-3
