ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's tennis program took more steps in the right direction in a Saturday home dual against NAIA-affiliate Warner University, falling at the Turley Athletic Complex by an 8-1 decision.
Freshman
Stephen Felman was responsible for the Tritons' point in singles competition as he emerged from a third-set tiebreaker to take down the Royals' Tiago Oliviera, 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.
Even though the young and rising Eckerd (0-5 overall) men's tennis squad has been kept out of the win column in five tries, the Tritons persevered through one of the toughest schedules in the region and country.
The month of February featured daunting matches against all ITA Top-25 ranked opponents, including No. 2 Barry University, No. 18 Saint Leo University, No. 9 Florida Tech, No. 5 Lynn University and No. 23 Florida Southern College.
“There were some improvements in today's match, but we still have things we need to work on,” EC assistant coach
Ben Maxwell said. “We need to get focused and bounce back within the next 24 hours to take on our next opponent (Cumberland University). We just can't dwell on a loss like this. Stephen (Felman) showed a lot of guts and maturity to get through a tough match.”
The combo of Felman and
Dylan Randazzo took the Tritons' No. 1 doubles slot to the brink of victory, but ceded with a 9-7 score. Felman and Randazzo were at one point down, 3-6, but battled back to muster a rally.
Connor Ohlsen and
Ben Levy teamed up for the second doubles pairing while
Madison Durley and
Robby Breece dropped their No. 3 matchup, 8-4.
Brian Hill also took his respective opponent to a third-set tiebreak, but unfortunately, was on the short end against Vitor Schepper. Ohlsen and
Jesus Silva each took their opponent to respective 7-5 games in their singles efforts.
The Tritons face Cumberland (Tenn.) University in another non-conference matchup this afternoon at 2 p.m. in St. Petersburg.
