TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Following a difficult opening weekend to the spring season the FGCU men's tennis team begins its dual slate with a pair of matches this weekend. The Eagles are set to face Florida State Friday at 2 p.m. and Florida A&M Saturday at 11 a.m. to begin the dual season.
Live stats for Friday's dual will be provided by Florida State and can be found on Seminoles.com.
LOOKING BACK
The opening weekend of the spring season was a tough test for the Green and Blue, who were limited to six total wins over the three-day FGCU Spring Invitational. Facing three of the nation's top programs, including now #24 USF and a Top 50 program in Wisconsin last season, FGCU held its own throughout the weekend and displayed multiple strong individual performances.
Sam Chaffin (Tampa, Fla./Wharton HS) recorded the lone singles win Friday night, sparking additional wins from
Javier Fernandez (Ibiza, Spain/IES CTEIB),
Mateo Ruiz (Bucaramanga, Colombia/Oklahoma State) and
Ezequiel Cerrini (Sunny Isles Beach, Fla./Homeschool) on Saturday.
FLORIDA STATE
While the Seminoles find themselves outside the Top 25, Florida State remains a top-tier program. Guy Iradukunda enters the spring at #59 and Aziz Dougaz is not far behind at #71. The Seminoles kicked off the spring with three duals, defeating Louisiana and South Alabama. The 'Noles dropped the final match of the weekend to Georgia State.
Iradukunda has eight wins heading into the Friday's dual, appearing at the top two positions. Dougaz has two appearances at No. 1, with a 1-1 record from that spot.
The Seminoles are undefeated at No. 1 doubles as the pairing of Dougaz and Iradukunda are 2-0 while Jose Gracia and Lucas Poullain have a win in their only match.
FGCU is 0-4 against Florida State all-time in dual matches, including a 6-1 loss last year in Tallahassee.
FLORIDA A&M
FGCU has defeated Florida A&M in each of the previous four meetings. Courage Okungbowa returns for his senior season after featuring at the Rattlers' top spot last season. Okungbowas has already provided the only two wins for Florida A&M on the season. Walner Espinoza also comes back for his senior year.
The Rattlers are 0-3 this season with losses to Georgia State, Mercer and Louisiana.
UP NEXT
The Eagles kick off a 13-match home schedule Feb. 3 against Bethune-Cookman. The following day, FGCU welcomes FAU to Southwest Florida with both matches scheduled for 6 p.m.
Next weekend features an alumni match for FGCU at 1 p.m. on Jan. 28.
CJ WEBER
FGCU is led by
CJ Weber who has coached 23 ASUN All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his fifth year, Weber has compiled a 64-42 (.605) overall record and a 26-11 (.694) record in ASUN play. In 2014-15, Weber guided the Eagles to their first-ever Atlantic Sun Championship and first-ever Atlantic Sun Regular Season title after a program-best 17 wins. In his third season, Weber led 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. The Eagles completed consecutive perfect ASUN seasons in 2016 and back-to-back conference titles as well as a second-straight Coach of the Year honor for Weber.
FOLLOW ALONG
For complete coverage of FGCU men's tennis follow us on Twitter @FGCU_MTEN and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available at the end of each day of competition.
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
