Eagles clinch No. 4 seed in A-Sun Championships
DeLAND, Fla. – Stetson took a hard-fought doubles point that came down to tie-breakers and the first three points in singles action to hand a slim 4-3 loss to the FGCU men's tennis team on Saturday in the regular season finale for both teams.
In a match that would determine the No. 3 seed in next weekend's Atlantic Sun Championships, Stetson improved to 15-3 and 6-2 in league action, while the Eagles will be the No. 4 seed with a 10-10 overall mark that includes a 4-4 A-Sun record.
FGCU will take on the No. 5 seed on Friday afternoon in the first round of the A-Sun Championships hosted by ETSU. The Green and Blue will learn their opponent after all of Saturday's matches are final.
After the Hatters took top doubles, the No. 2 and No. 3 matches both came down to tie breakers. At the No. 2 spot, sophomore Tianyu Bao (Tianjin, China/Bayshore HS-FL) and junior Lance Lvovsky (Dania, Fla./Broward Virtual School/Jacksonville) took the tie-breaker by a 7-5 margin. Unfortunately, the tie-breaker in the No. 3 doubles showdown was decided by the same score but in favor of Stetson for a 1-0 lead for the home team.
Stetson was able to earn the match-clinching point early into singles play, as it took the first three points at the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6 spots for the win.
FGCU did battle back with three singles wins of its own, led by sophomore Jordi Vives (Barcelona, Spain/IES Ferran Tallada/USC) convincing 6-3, 6-4 victory over Didrik Berg at the top spot. Vives ended his first season of A-Sun regular season action with a 6-2 mark at No. 1 singles, while he improved to 12-5 overall.
Junior Dean Tsamas (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay HS) posted a gutsy three-set win at No. 3 singles for his team-leading 15th win of the year. Tsamas also improved to 6-2 in A-Sun action, while Bao also finished 6-2 in conference play. Between Vives, Bao and Tsamas who occupied the top three spots in every A-Sun match, the Eagles took at least two of top three singles points against seven of eight conference opponents.
Seeing singles action in A-Sun play for the fourth time this year, sophomore Michael Beiler (Palm Harbor, Fla./Dunedin HS) was victorious at the No. 5 position, posting a three-set 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-6 win over Chester Espie for FGCU's final point.
Stetson (15-3, 6-2) 4, FGCU (10-10, 4-4) 3
Singles Action
Order of Finish: 6, 2, 4, 1, 3, 5
1. Jordi Vives (FGCU) def. Didrik Berg (STET) – 6-3, 6-4
2. Simon Julin (STET) def. Tianyu Bao (FGCU) – 6-4, 6-1
3. Dean Tsamas (FGCU) def. Laurynas Antropikas (STET) – 6-4, 4-6, 10-7
4. Cahit Kapukiran (STET) def. Lance Lvovsky (FGCU) – 6-2, 6-1
5. Michael Beiler (FGCU) def. Chester Espie (STET) – 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-6
6. Nathan Debut (STET) def. Gabe Echeverry (FGCU) – 6-2, 6-2
Doubles Action
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
1. Antropikas/Riseng (STET) def. Vives/Tsamas (FGCU) – 8-5
2. Bao/Lvovsky (FGCU) def. Berg/Julin (STET) – 9-8 (7-5)
3. Debut/Kapukiran (STET) def. Moore/Beiler (FGCU) – 9-8 (7-5)
