ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's tennis team concluded the 2013-14 regular season against nationally-ranked Rollins College
on Thursday afternoon while celebrating Senior Day.
The Tritons (4-11, 0-6 SSC) fell to the No. 20 Tars (9-9, 2-2 SSC), 9-0, at the Turley Athletic Complex as seniors
Nikita Valuiskikh and
Madison Durley played in their final home matches.
Jesus Silva represented the third member of the senior class, but was inactive in the lineup today.
"It has been a great regular season for the men and I'm proud of all them; they had great doubles matches today," said EC head coach
Ben Maxwell. "It's a tough loss against a tough school, but we are looking forward to the SSC tournament in a few weeks."
Eckerd fell to an early 3-0 deficit as Rollins collected all three doubles matches despite closely-contested final decisions.
EC sophomores
Yosua Adiyasa and
Frazier Springfield challenged their opponents in Jason Alabaster and Ari Davis in a closely contested 8-6 final.
The Tars took all six singles matches in straight sets, with Valuiskikh forcing Alabaster to work extra once again for the win, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
"Nikita showed guts today in his singles match and competed to the very end," Maxwell said.
Adiyasa matched up against RC's Will Kwok during singles competition in a battle of regionally-ranked individuals at the No. 1 position.
Eckerd will await official word from the league office for seeding in the postseason with the Sunshine State Championship set to begin on Thursday, April 24, in Winter Park at Rollins.
