CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team posted back-to-back wins on Wednesday, finishing the non-conference schedule with an 11-1 overall record.
The Hurricanes (12-2, 1-1 ACC) bested the No. 26 Memphis Tigers (8-3), 4-3, in the morning match for their third top-40 win of the season, before dominating the Army Black Knights (9-11), 4-0, to close out the day at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
Freshman Martin Katz paved the way for the Hurricanes, posting a 3-0 record across singles and doubles action on the day. Fifth-year senior Bojan Jankulovski joined him with an undefeated record, 2-0, at second singles, highlighted by win over No. 113 Jeremy Taylor of Memphis.
Miami faced adversity early, dropping their third straight doubles point to Memphis after the recently-ranked No. 23 duo of fourth-year junior Franco Aubone and fifth-year senior Benjamin Hannestad, and the second doubles pair of Jankulovski and fourth-year junior Juan Martin Jalif, faced 6-4 and 6-3 defeats, respectively.
Katz evened the match at one with a decisive 6-2, 6-2 victory over Memphis’ Harry Rock on court six. Miami took its first lead of the match with a win at first singles by graduate student Dan Martin (6-3, 6-4), his 10th straight victory in singles action. However, the Tigers quickly tied it up at two-all after Hannestad dropped his third singles match, 6-2, 6-4.
Jankulovski’s 7-5, 6-3 victory at second singles over Taylor moved Miami ahead of Memphis 3-2, but the lead was short-lived as Jalif conceded a tough three-set match, 2-6, 6-2, 4-6, to Memphis’ Pablo Alemany Malea.
With the match on the line and trailing 4-6, 5-6, fourth-year junior Oren Vasser staved off defeat, forcing a second-set tiebreak, which he ultimately won, 8-6. The New Rochelle, N.Y., native carried that winning momentum into the final set, rattling off four straight games before his opponent retired due to injury, giving the Hurricanes the 4-3 victory.