FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's tennis team (5-7, 1-0 ASUN) was on the winning side of a 4-3 battle against the UNC Wilmington Seahawks (6-8, 0-0 CAA) Thursday night at the FGCU Tennis Complex. The match came down to the final court in singles play, where Marcelo Tebet (Londrina, Brazil/Colégio Anglo Americano) earned the winning point.

"This was a true team effort and I am so proud of everyone," head coach CJ Weber said. "We went into today with a mission and everybody fulfilled their role on the team. So that was a 100 percent team effort. Even the guys that lost today, I'm very proud of them because we played with the right attitude. That's all we can ask for."

The Eagles got off to a hot start to today's match, dominating doubles play. On the first court, Felipe Escobar (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira/TCU) and Mateo Ruiz (Bucaramagna, Colombia/Oklahoma State) earned a 6-1 victory over their UNCW opponents. The duo of Feliksas Sakalauskas (Palanga, Lithuania/Virginia Tech) and Felipe Ramirez (Armenia, Colombia/Florida Virtual School) followed up with a decisive victory of their own on court No. 3, beating their competitors with a score of 6-3.

With two wins, the Green and Blue clinched the doubles point and took an early 1-0 lead. At the time doubles play was called, Tebet and Juan Montes (Pereira, Colombia) were leading a UNCW duo 5-4 at the second court.

The Seahawks got on the board with Bruno Caula's straight-set victory over Sakalauskas at the fifth court (6-2, 6-3). Javier Fernandez (Ibiza, Spain/IES CTEIB) helped the Eagles regain the lead with a decisive triumph on court No. 6, defeating his competitor 6-0, 6-4. Montes also picked up a win in singles play with a 6-4, 6-1 win at the first court, extending the Green and Blue's advantage to 3-1.

The Seahawks picked up their second win in singles play with a 6-4, 6-4 decision on court No. 2, cutting the home team's lead to 3-2. The match was left to be decided by courts three and four, which both went into three sets.

UNCW's Daniel Groom dug out a 6-4 win in in the third set at the third flight, which tied things up between the two teams at 3-3.

The play on court No. 4 was consistently back-and-forth. Tebet and the Seahawks' Michael Copeland were evenly matched and kept one another in check. Eventually, Tebet clinched the win for the Eagles with a 6-4 win in the third set.

Results
Singles competition
1. MONTES, Juan (FGCU) def. Austin Hussey (UNCW) 6-4, 6-1
2. Agustin Savarino (UNCW) def. RAMIREZ, Felipe (FGCU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Cole Groetsch (UNCW) def. ESCOBAR, Felipe (FGCU) 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
4. TEBET, Marcelo (FGCU) def. Michael Copeland (UNCW) 7-6 (15-13), 2-6, 6-4
5. Bruno Caula (UNCW) def. SAKALAUSKAS,Feliksas (FGCU) 6-2, 6-3
6. FERNANDEZ, Javier (FGCU) def. Davide Innocenti (UNCW) 6-0, 6-4
Order of finish: 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4

Doubles competition
1. ESCOBAR, Felipe/RUIZ, Mateo (FGCU) def. Michael Morphy/Daniel Groom (UNCW) 6-1
2. TEBET, Marcelo/MONTES, Juan (FGCU) vs. Bruno Caula/Cole Groetsch (UNCW) 5-4, unfinished
3. SAKALAUSKAS,Feliksas/RAMIREZ, Felipe (FGCU) def. Agustin Savarino/Michael Copeland (UNCW) 6-3
Order of finish: 1,3

Up Next
The Eagles will continue their long home swing with a match against Georgia State next Wednesday, March 20. The match against the Panthers is set to begin at 5 p.m. at the FGCU Tennis Complex.

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 87-75 (.537) overall record and a 32-18 (.640) 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.