The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
UCF
UAB Men's Tennis Team Falls To UCF, 6-1
2/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 23, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. ----- The UAB men's tennis team failed to pull out the close matches here Friday at the Conference USA Shootout, falling 6-1 to UCF in a match that was much closer than the final score.
UCF captured five-of-six singles matches, including three-set wins in three of those, to post the victory. The Blazers (4-4) claimed their only win in the match at No. 4 singles as senior Kruno Despotovski downed the Golden Knights' Brock Sakey, 6-0, 6-7 (4), 3-0 (ret.).
UAB's Hanns Spangenberg and Tim Bauer each won opening sets at No. 2 and 3 singles, respectively, only to see UCF's Tarek Ben Soltane and Johan Beigart rally for victories. Soltane won by a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 score over Spangenberg while Beigart took a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 decision over the Blazers' Bauer.
The Knights also got a three-set win at No. 6 singles as Jimmy Roesch downed UAB's Thomas Petrich, 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
Even UAB's two straight-set losses in singles were tight matches. At No. 1 singles, Thomas Weiss dropped a 7-6 (5), 6-4 decision to UCF's Sinan Sudas. Then at the No. 5 singles position, the Blazers' Alex Emery fell by a 7-5, 6-4 count to the Golden Knights' Norman Alcantara.
UCF claimed the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 3. UAB won at No. 2 doubles as the tandem of Bauer and Spangenberg downed the Knights' Beigart and Sudas, 8-7 (4).
"I thought we competed pretty well today," said head coach Derek Tarr, "but we just didn't close the deal. We have to do a better job of finishing matches. Not to take anything away from UCF, but the match was a lot closer than the score. I think their experience (versus ours) had a lot to do with that. Hopefully, we can bounce back Saturday."
UAB will continue play Saturday in the C-USA Shootout when the Blazers take on East Carolina at 9:00 a.m.
C-USA Shootout
Orlando, Fla.
UCF 6, UAB 1
Doubles No. 1 - Norman Alcantara/Brock Sakey (UCF) def. Kruno Despotovski/Thomas Weiss (UAB) 8-6
No. 2 - Tim Bauer/Hanns Spangenberg (UAB) def. Johan Beigart/Sinan Sudas (UCF) 8-7 (4)
No. 3 - Jimmy Roesch/Tarek Ben Soltane (UCF) def. Alex Emery/Thomas Petrich (UAB) 8-4
Singles
No. 1 - Sinan Sudas (UCF) def. Thomas Weiss 7-6 (5), 6-4
No. 2 - Tarek Ben Soltane (UCF) def. Hanns Spangenberg (UAB) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 - Johan Beigart (UCF) def. Tim Bauer (UAB) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
No. 4 - Kruno Despotovski (UAB) def. Brock Sakey (UCF) 6-0, 6-7 (4), 3-0 (ret.)
No. 5 - Norman Alcantara (UCF) def. Alex Emery (UAB) 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 - Jimmy Roesch (UCF) def. Thomas Petrich (UAB) 6-4, 4-6, 10-7
Players Mentioned
