Men's Tennis Falls to No. 71 North Florida
1/29/2012 1:02:00 AM | Men's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team was unable to carry the momentum from its win over Mercer as they fell to No. 71 North Florida 1-6 on Saturday. The depth of the Osprey roster was too much to overcome for the Eagles on this afternoon.
"UNF showed why they're nationally ranked," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "I'm proud of the way the guys fought. We gave ourselves opportunities but committed too many unforced errors to win against a nationally ranked team."
The Eagles began the match in doubles play, where they fought hard but were unable to secure a match victory. Daniel Rush (Orange Park, Fla.) and Sebastien Felt (Vienna, Austria) lost 8-5 at No. 3 doubles, while No. 1 doubles tandem Matthijs Verdam (Hilversum, The Netherlands) and Alain Garrido (Vigo, Spain) lost 8-4.
Freshman Albert Codina Sala (Manresa, Spain) led the singles effort for the Eagles. He scored his first collegiate victory in a ten-point match tiebreaker at No. 3 singles over Julien Belair, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 18-16. Verdam fought valiantly at No. 1 singles but lost 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-4 in his ten-point match tiebreaker to Moritz Buerchner.
Although the Eagles were unable to win today, the 1-1 homestand can still be considered a success. "We took a lot of positive steps this weekend that will prepare us for a tough road trip next weekend," added Zieziula.
The Eagles return to the courts when then hit the road for a three-game swing through Florida next weekend. The first match is on Friday at 2 p.m. when they visit Florida Atlantic. Their next home match is on February 18th at 1 p.m. when they host the Bulldogs of South Carolina State.
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