PHOENIX, Ariz. – The FGCU men's tennis team heads west to the Silicon Desert for a pair of matches against Grand Canyon and Sacramento State this weekend.
The Eagles are slated to take on GCU Friday, followed by Sacramento State Saturday afternoon.
Both matches are set to begin at noon eastern time.
LAST TIME OUT
The Green and Blue opened its 2019 campaign on the road in Tampa suffering a 5-2 loss to USF.
Feliksas Sakalauskas (Palanga, Lithuania/Virginia Tech) and
Juan Montes (Pereira, Colombia/TCU) gave FGCU its first doubles win court No. 3 with a 6-4 victory. Soon after, FGCU clinched the doubles point on court No. 2 as
Marcelo Tebet (Londrina, Brazil/Colegio Anglo Americano) and
Ezequiel Cerrini (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Homeschool) registered a 6-4 win.
In singles play, Sakalauskas produced FGCU's lone victory as he carried his doubles momentum onto court No. 4. The Lithuanian downed USF's Jakub Wojcik in straight sets (7-6, 6-0), cruising to his first dual triumph of the year.
PRESEASON COACHES POLL
FGCU was slotted No. 2 with 52 points as UNF finished ahead of the Eagles with 63 points and seven first-place votes. Liberty (47) was picked third as the Flames took the final first-place vote.
Stetson (43) placed fourth as Lipscomb (34), Kennesaw State (25), NJIT (16) and North Alabama (8) capped off the poll.
SCOUTING THE ANTELOPES
GCU is 1-1 overall, splitting two matches over the weekend against UC Riverside (W, 7-0) and Arizona (L, 5-2). Lucas Greco leads GCU with a 2-0 record on court No. 4 while Lorezno Fucile has been GCU's top court player, holding a 1-1 mark.
In doubles, Fucile and Mathieu Rajaonah are 2-0 on court No. 1.
SCOUTING THE HORNETS
Sacramento State dropped its season-opener at UC Davis 6-1. Hermont Legaspi was responsible for the Hornets' point as he collected a 7-5, 6-0 win. In total, Sacramento State lost a trio of singles matches in three sets. In that match, Donal Hall teamed up with Josh Poole for a victory on court No. 2 in doubles (6-2).
UP NEXT
FGCU will host its home-opener on Saturday, Feb. 9 against FAU. The match is slated for a 5 p.m. start.
FOLLOW ALONG
For complete coverage of FGCU men's tennis follow us on Twitter & Instagram @FGCU_MTEN and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available at the end of the competition.
CJ WEBER
FGCU is led by CJ Weber who has coached 29 ASUN All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his seventh year, Weber has compiled an 83-69 (.549) overall record and a 32-17 (.694) record in ASUN play. In 2014-15, Weber guided the Eagles to their first-ever ASUN Championship and first-ever ASUN 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. FGCU again won the ASUN Championship in 2017, advancing to its second NCAA Tournament.
