The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Tennis Defeats Jacksonville State, 4-2
3/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 4, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's tennis team (7-5) won the doubles point and three of six singles matches to beat instate rival, Jacksonville State, 4-2, here this afternoon at Brook Highland Racquet Club.
"This was a nerve-racking match today," said UAB head coach Derek Tarr. "It was tightly contested and could have gone either way throughout the matches. Jacksonville State is much improved from last season and was a good test for us. I'm proud of the way our guys responded positively to the pressure."
UAB won the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches to take the point. In the No. 2 tilt, Blazers Andre Maier and Dino Mancarella teamed up to defeat JSU's Rodney Rapson and Vedran Sirola, 8-5. Raphael Rodriguez and Toby Bourke of Jacksonville State fell to UAB's Sansaruz Zaman and Patrick Suhrbier, 8-4, in the No. 3 match. At the No. 1 position, the Gamecocks' Ruben Herrera and Arturo Nieto defeated Bastian Grundler and Kristijan Mitrovski of UAB, 8-5.
In the No. 2 singles match, Blazer Maier fell to JSU's Nieto, 6-4, 6-3. Mitrovski tied things up for UAB by defeating Gamecock Rodriguez, 7-6, 6-1, at the No. 3 position. In the No. 4 tilt, Jacksonville State's Sirola beat Blazer Ruben Zrihen, 6-3, 6-3.
With the No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6 matches still going, UAB needed to take two of three for the win. Blazer Suhrbier put UAB one step closer to victory with a 6-0, 6-1 win over JSU's Christian Rybertt at No. 6 singles. Grundler secured the win for UAB in the No. 1 singles match, when he battled back to defeat JSU's Herrera, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. After the win was secured, Blazer Ivan Andreev and Jacksonville State's Rapson stopped their match at the No. 5 position with Andreev winning, 6-3, 4-1.
Next, UAB will travels to Corpus Christi for the HEB Collegiate on March 7-9.
