SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. — The St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team wrapped up the long Spring Break road trip on a high note, defeating Ferris State 5-2 on Friday morning.
"Ferris State is a really good team," said Director of Tennis
Bill Macom. "Their doubles are solid, and the singles lineup is deep. I think we picked a good day to play some of our best tennis of the week, and I think our conditioning really made a difference today. In most of the matches, I felt sure that we were going to hold up pretty well mentally. We played with a lot of confidence."
The win moves the Rattlers to 5-4 on the season and gives the team a 2-3 record on the trip. The Bulldogs fall to 6-5 with the loss.
Sophomore
Leonardo Fabbri (Faenza, Italy) clinched the win for the Rattlers at number one singles. He broke late in the first set for the 7-5 win, but neither player could create separation in the second set and Kevin Kovacs edged Fabbri 7-2 in the tiebreaker. Fabbri refocused and recorded several breaks of serve to win the deciding set 6-2 and give the Rattlers their fifth win.
The morning started with the Rattlers winning the number two and three doubles matches. Freshman
Lucas Castillo Sanchez (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and senior
Alvaro Soler (Alicante, Spain) won 6-3 on court two, while
Aaron Ben Anton (Remseck, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) and
Pierre Copin (Vidauban, Var, France) won 6-4 on court three.
Soler pushed his winning streak to three matches, winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 after moving back to two singles. He is now 5-0 at line two this spring and 6-2 overall.
The Bulldogs broke onto the scoreboard with a straight sets win at line three to make the score 2-1, but Castillo Sanchez dominated in the third set for a come-from-behind win at four singles, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, setting up Fabbri for the clinch.
Anton kept the momentum going, scoring the fifth point with his 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 [10-5] win at six singles before the Bulldogs grabbed the last point.
After playing five straight on the road, the Rattlers return home to host #9 Harding on Wednesday, March 26 at 11 a.m.
