TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Just 24 hours removed from its season-opening loss against No. 35 Florida State, the FGCU men's tennis team (1-1) responded with a dominating 7-0 win over Florida A&M (0-3) at the Rattlers Tennis Center.

"Today was a great response after yesterday's loss," head coach CJ Weber said. "We played with good energy and intensity, and it started with Jordi and Bao at No. 1 doubles. This team is going to be a lot of fun to watch this year, and I'm looking forward to the next two weeks of preparation for our first home match against FAU."
 
FAMU was unable to play their full lineup as the Rattlers were short one player due to illness, so the Eagles were up 1-0 and only needed one doubles win to clinch the doubles point instead of two wins. The Green and Blue capitalized on the opportunity as the senior co-captain duo of Tianyu Bao (Tianjin, China/Bayshore HS (Bradenton, Fla.)) and Jordi Vives (Barcelona, Spain/IES Ferran Tallada/USC) made a quick work against Courage Okungbowa and Walner Espinoza in the No. 1 slot with a score of 6-3. Claiming win number two for the Eagles were junior duo of Lucas Vaz and Ricky Ventura in the No. 2 slot against Karlyn Small and C. Agustin Waitman with a score of 6-4.
 
FGCU carried their momentum from doubles to singles as the Eagles won the first set from all courts. Freshman Austin Bates gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead after a swift 6-1, 6-0 win over Waitman in the No. 4 slot. Clinching the first win of the season for the Eagles was Vives out of the No. 1 slot, also put up a dominating 6-1, 6-0 score against Small.
 
Just a few minutes after Vives' win, FGCU extended its lead to 5-0 after redshirt sophomore Chris Perrigan won his slot 5 match with a yet another dominating 6-2, 6-0 win over Jason Ulacio. Playing in his hometown with his family and friends watching, Perrigan put on a show for them as the Tallahassee. Fla native steamrolled his opponent for his first win of the spring season.
 
Ventura was challenged in his No. 2 singles match against Courage Okungbowa. After a back-and-fourth first set, Ricky came out on top as the junior transfer from University of Barcelona won the first set 6-4. In the beginning of the second set Ventura and Okungbowa both held serves to start the match, but Ventura outdueled his opponent 6-3 to extend FGCU's lead to 6-0.
 
Tying up the last point for the Eagles was Bao in the No. 3 slot. Bao claimed the first set 6-2 and was up 5-2 in the second set against Walner Espinoza, but Espinoza found his game and won five games in the row to claim the second set 7-5. In a high-pressure third set tiebreaker, it was Bao who came out victorious as the senior came up with two huge lob shots at the score of 9-9 to claim the match 11-9, and a clean 7-0 score sheet for the Eagles.
 
The senior captains of Vives and Bao are on a quest to become the most decorated players in FGCU men's tennis history. Two-time Atlantic Sun First Team All Conference selection and reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, Vives has won 59 singles matches in his fourth semester of competition for the Eagles. A former A-Sun Freshman of the Year, an A-Sun Second Team All-Conference selection and reigning A-Sun First Team All-Conference selection, Bao has won 51 singles matches for the Eagles. The current D-I era record is held by current assistant coach Dean Tsamas with 62, and the all-time record is held by former FGCU great Richard Stempnowski with 67 from FGCU's D-II era.
 
The Eagles will welcome cross-state rival FAU to The Nest on Jan. 30 at 5 p.m., this year's first out of six night matches, then return to the baseline Feb. 1 against Georgia Southern at noon.
 
Results
FGCU:7 FAMU: 0
 
Doubles
1. Tianyu Bao/Jordi Vives (FGCU) vs. Courage Okungbowa/Walner Espinoza(FAMU) 6-3
2. Ricky Ventura/Lucas Vaz(FGCU) def. Karlyn Small/ C. Agustin Waitman (FAMU) 6-4
3. Austin Bates/Chris Perrigan (FGCU) def. NO PLAYERS (FAMU) default
 
Singles
1. Jordi Vives (FGCU) def. Karlyn Small (FAMU) 6-3, 6-3
2. Ricky Ventura (FGCU) vs. Courage Okungbowa (FAMU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Tianyu Bao (FGCU) vs. Walner Espinoza (FAMU) 6-2, 5-7, 11-9
4. Austin Bates (FGCU) def. C. Agustin Waitman (FAMU) 6-1, 6-0
5. Chris Perrigan (FGCU) def. Jason Ulacio (FAMU) 6-2, 6-0
6. Sam Chaffin (FGCU) vs. NO PLAYER (FAMU) default
 
 
CJ WEBER
FGCU is led by CJ Weber, who has coached 10 A-Sun All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his third season, Weber guided Jordi Vives to a No. 35 national ranking, a nation-leading 14-match unbeaten streak and the round of 32 in the 2014 NCAA Tournament – the program's first appearance. His teams have continually posted winning records and finished the 2014 season a Division-I best third in the conference with 12 wins.
 
#WINGSUP
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