ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd men's tennis team earned a hard-fought doubles point, then won three early singles matches on the way to a 5-2 victory over Ave Maria (Fla.) on Monday at the Bullard Courts in the final home match of the season.
Alasdair Knox and
Prakrut Patel rallied for the winning point at No. 2 doubles. Trailing 5-4 and again 6-5, the duo forced a tiebreaker where they jumped ahead early by taking the first four points. Â By that point, momentum was clearly on their side as they took the tiebreaker, 7-1.
Will Stone and
Matt Spasic earned the first win at No. 1 doubles, though they had to hold off a late comeback attempt by David Zuleta and Nicholas Hofmeister to do so. Â Stone and Spasic had a 5-2 lead only to see Zuleta and Hofmeister win the next two sets. The junior tandem, though, rose to the occasion in the next game to close out the match with a 6-4 win.
Eckerd then took quick wins at Nos. 2, 3, and 4 singles to seal the match. Stone easily handled Hofmeister at No. 2 (6-0, 6-1) while Spasic was close behind in defeating Fischer 6-1, 6-2. Â Patel then earned the winning point at No. 4 singles with a 6-0, 6-2 victory against Althoff.
Alejandro Vucanovic picked up a win at No. 6 singles in a third-set tiebreaker over Brandon Valley (6-4, 1-6, 10-6).
The Tritons (8-7) return to the court at Rollins on Friday at noon.
Doubles competition
1.
Will Stone/
Matt Spasic (ECM) def. David Zuleta/Nicholas Hofmeister (AMUM) 6-4
2.
Alasdair Knox/
Prakrut Patel (ECM) def. TJ Fischer/Jonathan Althoff (AMUM) 7-6 (7-1)
3. Cesar Menacho/Brandon Valley (AMUM) def.
Sam Walker/
Alejandro Vucanovic (ECM) 6-2
Singles competition
1. David Zuleta (AMUM) def.
Alasdair Knox (ECM) 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 10-8
2.
Will Stone (ECM) def. Nicholas Hofmeister (AMUM) 6-0, 6-1
3.
Matt Spasic (ECM) def. TJ Fischer (AMUM) 6-1, 6-2
4.
Prakrut Patel (ECM) def. Jonathan Althoff (AMUM) 6-0, 6-2
5. Cesar Menacho (AMUM) def.
Sam Walker (ECM) 0-6, 6-2, 10-5
6.
Alejandro Vucanovic (ECM) def. Brandon Valley (AMUM) 6-4, 1-6, 10-6
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