#44 Miami Falls Just Short at #18 Florida State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team narrowly fell short of No. 18 Florida State, 4-3, Wednesday night at the Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center.
A rivalry match for the ages, the competition featured three, third-set tiebreaks, plus an additional two in the first and second sets on court one.
The Hurricanes dominated doubles action, tallying a pair of victories on courts one and two. Graduate student Dan Martin and fifth-year senior Franco Aubone tallied Miami’s first doubles win of the day, taking down the second doubles duo of Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc and Josh Dous-Karpenschif, 6-2.
Fifth-year senior Juan Martin Jalif and freshman Martin Vergara Del Puerto clinched the doubles point for the Hurricanes with a 6-3 victory on court one.
Freshman Nacho Serra Sanchez recorded his sixth consecutive singles victory Wednesday night, defeating Andreja Petrovic, 6-3, 6-3, at fifth singles.
The Seminoles cut the Hurricanes’ lead in half thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 victory for Jamie Connel over Aubone on court six.
Florida State’s Loris Pourroy tied the match at two-all, after winning a three-set thriller on court two. Freshman Antonio Prat took an early 6-4 lead, but Pourroy responded with a 6-3 set-two victory. The players traded points in the third set, ultimately going to a tiebreak, which Pourroy won 7-6 (10).
Dous-Karpenschif gave Florida State its first lead of the day, 3-2, with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory over graduate student Leo Bierbaum at fourth singles.
On court three, sophomore No. 95 Martin Katz was one game away from defeat at 3-6, 2-5, but he rallied to rattle off five straight games, win set two, 7-5, and force a winner-take-all third set. Katz and No. 105 Youcef Rihane went point-for-point in the third set, but Katz willed his way to victory, taking the third set, 7-6 (2), to tie the overall match at three-all.
In the top spot, No. 55 Martin battled fourth-ranked Cornut-Chauvinc to the very end, regrouping from a 6-7 (3) first-set loss to win set two, 7-6 (7). Martin led by as many as three games in the third set but could not hold on to defeat top-five Cornut-Chauvinc, ultimately dropping the third set, 4-6.
The Hurricanes return to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center for Senior Day on Sunday. Miami will recognize four seniors in between doubles and singles action – Aubone, Bierbaum, Jalif and Martin. First serve against the Boston College Eagles will take place at 12 p.m.
