Men’s Tennis Gets Set For Busy Weekend Against In-State Foes

Looking to rack up wins over in-state competition, the FGCU men’s tennis team (4-5) will take on FAU on Friday at 2 p.m. at the FGCU Tennis Complex before heading across the state to face No. 67 Miami on Saturday at 3 p.m.

FGCU looks to get back on track after having fallen to No. 52 Old Dominion, 6-1, on its home court its last time out on Friday, March 1.

A meeting with a 4-7 FAU squad will give the Eagles an opportunity to get back to a .500 record and collect its third home victory of the spring dual match season. The Owls will make the trip to Fort Myers for the second time this season as they competed with Oklahoma State on Feb. 23 at the FGCU Tennis Complex, but did not face FGCU at the time because of its future meeting.

The Green and Blue will then hit the road for a Saturday afternoon meeting with No. 67 Miami in Coral Gabels, Fla. at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. FGCU looks to get its first win over a ranked opponent in the 2013 spring season after having fallen short in its first three attempts.

The Hurricanes, 7-4, are 4-1 at home this season which includes a 6-1 win over a UCF squad that FGCU faced on Feb. 15 and came up shy of an Eagle victory as they lost 4-3.

FGCU will looks to get ahead from the start of the match by capturing the doubles point over a ranked Miami team that has struggled, going 10-19 in doubles matches on the season.

The combination of sophomores Jordi Vives (Barcelona, Spain/IES Ferran Tallada/USC), Tianyu Bao (Tianjin, China/Bayshore HS-FL) and junior Dean Tsamas (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay HS), who have all been named A-Sun Player of the Week this spring, has proved significant for FGCU success in the top 3 spots in the last three matches as the trio posts a 14-10 record in the spring. Tsamas has excelled in the third spot for the Eagles as he posts a 5-1 record in singles competition.

Redshirt junior Gabe Echeverry (Popayan, Colombia/Gimnasio Calibio) has been solid in the sixth spot for the Green and Blue, going 3-1 this season when rounding out the singles lineup for FGCU.

Fans can get in-match updates and links to post-match recaps by following the team on twitter @FGCU_MTEN. Recaps and results will be available from each day at www.FGCUATHLETICS.com.