FORT MYERS, Fla. – Redshirt-freshman Randy Wilson (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Miami Palmetto/Louisville) clinched a 4-3 win for the FGCU men's tennis team (4-4, 3-0 ASUN) on Saturday afternoon at the FGCU Tennis Complex, helping the Eagles to defeat Stetson (2-5, 0-1 ASUN). With the match knotted up at 3-3, Wilson came through with a third set, tiebreaker win to help the Green & Blue put away the victory.

Wilson was one of four Eagles that finished their day with singles wins, joined by redshirt-freshman Magnus Johnson (Naples, Fla./Homeschool/UCF), freshman Alessandro Conca (Milan, Italy/ISMC Milano) and redshirt-freshman Guglielmo Stefanacci (Prato, Italy/International School of Florence). The quartet assisted the Eagles in maintaining their standing at the top of the ASUN South Division with an unblemished, 3-0 mark in league play.

"Today was a hard-fought win for our team," head coach CJ Weber said. "We need to get better on the doubles court, but I felt Stetson played more confident tennis where it mattered and they earned the doubles point for their effort. We responded well in singles and had great energy from everyone. Conca played amazing tennis and the energy from the crowd near his court was electric. He's someone who has really stepped up and enjoys the dual match environment. Guglielmo and Magnus both took care of business amazingly well. Randy bounced back after a slow second set and really turned it on for the third. It was great to see him step up like that when his team needed him. He had a great week of preparation and he took advantage of the opportunity. Great team win today. I'm looking forward to next week's training already."  

The match was tight from the start, as the teams earned split results on the top two doubles courts. The duo of Johnson and sophomore Max Damm (Bradenton, Fla./Saint Stephens Episcopal School) defeated their opponents 6-2 at the No. 1 spot, but the Hatters' triumph on the second court left the doubles point to be decided by court No. 3. Though redshirt-junior Juan Montes (Pereira, Colombia/Colegio Lujan) and Stefanacci battled against the Hatters on the opposing side, Stetson was able to earn a 7-6 result to secure the early point, taking a 1-0 lead.

Conca was the first to respond in singles play, turning in a 6-4, 6-1 win at the fourth spot that knotted things up at 1-1. The Eagles were able to take their first lead of the match at 2-1 when Stefanacci posted a straight-set result on court No. 6, but the Hatters quickly answered with a triumph at the second court to tie things back up.

A Stetson win at the fifth spot put the visiting team on the verge of clinching the match, but Johnson's straight-set victory on the top court prevented the final result from being decided. His performance the stage for Wilson's heroics by knotting the score up at 3-3. Wilson then delivered his third-court win to hand the Eagles their final 4-3 margin of victory.

FGCU will now prepare to hit the road once again for a pair of matches against Kennesaw State (April 2) and Stetson (April 3). The Eagles will first face off against the Owls in a neutral site match at the UNF Tennis Complex before taking on the Hatters on their home courts in DeLand.

For complete coverage of FGCU men's tennis, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_MTen and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU men's tennis or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.

Results
Singles competition
1. JOHNSON, Magnus (FGCU) def. Sanchez, Antoine (STET) 6-4, 6-2
2. Marques, Diogo (STET) def. MONTES, Juan (FGCU) 7-6 (3-0), 6-3
3. WILSON, Randy (FGCU) def. Hamel, Clement (STET) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
4. CONCA, Alessandro (FGCU) def. Thiergard, Sven (STET) 6-4, 6-1
5. Penzkofer, Fabian (STET) def. SAKALAUSKAS, Feliks (FGCU) 6-4, 6-4
6. STEFANACCI, Gugli (FGCU) def. Laka, Josh (STET) 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 4, 6, 2, 5, 1, 3

Doubles competition
1. JOHNSON, Magnus/DAMM, Max (FGCU) def. Marques, Diogo/Sanchez, Antoine (STET) 6-2
2. Bergevi, Linus/Thiergard, Sven (STET) def. MACIEL, Pedro/SAKALAUSKAS, Feliks (FGCU) 6-3
3. Hamel, Clement/Hillhouse, Alexandre (STET) def. MONTES, Juan/STEFANACCI, Gugli (FGCU) 7-6 (3-0)
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

ASUN Roundup
South Division Standings
1. FGCU (4-4, 3-0 ASUN)
2. UNF (5-8, 1-1 ASUN)
3. Stetson (2-5, 0-0=1 ASUN)
4. Kennesaw State (4-10, 0-2 ASUN)

North Division Standings
1. Liberty (11-5, 2-0 ASUN)
2. Lipscomb (5-5, 1-1 ASUN)
3. North Alabama (3-9, 1-1 ASUN)
4. Bellarmine (3-15, 0-2 ASUN)

Recent Results
Saturday, March 27
UNF 4, Kennesaw State 3
FGCU 4, Stetson 3

Upcoming Matches
Sunday, March 28
Georgia Southern at Kennesaw State - Noon
Liberty at Bellarmine - 1 p.m.

CJ WEBER
FGCU is led by three-time ASUN Coach of the Year CJ Weber, who has coached 32 ASUN All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his seventh year, Weber has compiled a 101-85 (.541) overall record and a 41-18 (.672) 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 a perfect ASUN regular season in both 2015 and 2016, finishing with conference titles as well as a Coach of the Year honor for Weber. FGCU again won the 2017 ASUN Championship and made its second NCAA appearance. The Eagles returned to the mountaintop by claiming the 2019 regular season and tournament championships. Weber earned his third ASUN Coach of the Year honor and led the Green and Blue to their third trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

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FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 85 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 40 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 23 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, and 2020 Fall semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
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