Eagles Shuts Out Northern Kentucky, 7-0

The FGCU men’s tennis team made quick work of the Norse, defeating Northern Kentucky, 7-0, Saturday night at the FGCU Tennis Complex.

“It feels good starting the conference season 2-0, but we know we’ve got some tough matches coming up and a lot of work ahead of us the rest of the way,” said head coach C.J. Weber. “I’m happy we’ve got our doubles going in a positive direction.”

“It was a statement win for us, we were able to be focused in our matches and just put them away,” said sophomoreTianyu Bao. “Hopefully we can take the momentum from this weekend to next weekend against Mercer and Kennesaw State.”

The win ties the best record to start conference action since FGCU joined the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2007-08. Last year the club went 2-0 before losing to USC Upstate on the road.

FGCU moves to 7-6 on the season as Northern Kentucky drops to 3-9 on the year. This marks the second shutout this season for the Eagles and the first time ever over an opponent from the A-Sun.

In doubles, sophomore Jordi Vives (Barcelona, Spain/IES Ferran Tallada/USC) and junior Dean Tsamas (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay HS) defeated Guillaume Berman and Pierce Kohls, 8-2, in the No. 1 spot. In the No. 2 spot, the duo of sophomore Tianyu Bao (Tianjin, China/Bayshore HS-FL) and freshman Dyaln Gunning (Baca Raton, Fla./Olympic Heights HS) defeated Jody Maginley and Andrea Correa, 8-5. Junior Lance Lvovsky (Dania, Fla./Broward Virtual School/Jacksonville) and senior Jackson Moore (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch HS/Georgia State) made it a clean sweep in doubles, as they defeated the team of Balint Zsidai and Christopher Angulo, 8-3, in the No. 3 spot.

In singles, it was a clean sweep across the board with Bao taking the victory with a 6-1, 6-3 win. Sophomore Michael Beiler (Palm Harbor, Fla./Dunedin HS) took the second victory, 6-4, 6-1 after not participating in the doubles event. Tsamas claimed the match-clinching victory, defeating Kohls in the No. 2 spot, 7-5, 6-1. Vives and Moore won in straight sets in both the No. 1 spot and No. 4 spot, respectively.

Lvovsky was the only member to go to three sets after dropping the first set, 6-7. Lvovsky battled back with a 6-1 second set and a 10-8 final set to win the match.

FGCU will be back in action next Friday, March 22 beginning with a 2 p.m. match against Mercer in Macon, Ga.