FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Florida Gulf Coast University men's tennis team closed out its regular season slate by downing Austin Peay 7-0 at the FGCU Tennis Complex Sunday. It was the Eagles' third consecutive triumph and saw Florida Gulf Coast finish the regular season with a 12-13 overall record and 6-2 in Atlantic Sun Conference play, clinching third place in the ASUN standings.
FGCU struck first by claiming the doubles point. It took
Guglielmo Stefanacci and
Pablo Paternostro just 22 minutes to win their match 6-2 on court two.
Hugo Magnusson and
Jonathan Baron followed with a 6-4 victory on court one to put FGCU ahead.
The Green and Blue needed just three of the six contests in singles play and started by winning the first set on five of the six courts. Magnusson extended FGCU's advantage to 2-0 with a dominant
6-1, 6-2 success at court one in just under an hour.
Paternostro brought the Eagles to the brink of the overall win by taking the match at court four
6-2, 6-0. FGCU then clinched courtesy of
Ninad Raut, who also won convincingly,
6-2, 6-2, at court five.
CJ Smith's 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 victory at court six then made it 5-0 Florida Gulf Coast.
Stefanacci kept the Eagles rolling at court three, claiming the first set 6-2 before taking the second 7-5. The redshirt senior stormed back from a 4-0 deficit in the second frame, winning seven of the final eight games. Baron mounted a comeback of his own at court two. He was the only Eagle to drop the first set but battled into a tiebreak in the second, which he won 7-5, and blitzed the third frame to make it a clean sweep for FGCU.
The Eagles remained undefeated all-time in three contests against the Governors, dating back to when Austin Peay joined the ASUN prior to the 2022-23 academic year.
FGCU (12-13, 6-2 ASUN) returns to action next week as the No. 3 seed at the ASUN Men's Tennis Tournament, hosted by the University of North Florida. The Eagles will travel to Jacksonville, Fla. for the event, which will be contested April 17-19.
