The men’s tennis team traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, to face Old Dominion. The match was the Bucs’ fifth of the season. Prior to the match, the Bucs had won three of their four matches.
Similarly, Old Dominion also came into the game with a winning record and undefeated at home.
To start the match in doubles play, the Bucs got a good win when the pair of Juan Lugo (Maracay, Venezuela) and Chris Mikrovas (Athens, Greece) topped the Old Dominion pair 6-1.
Old Dominion tied the match in doubles play winning 6-2.
To clinch the first point of the match, the Bucs’ pair of Yusuf Khamis (Cairo, Egypt) and Frazier Rengifo (Cali, Colombia) pull off a close victory. They finished doubles play winning 7-5.
“We played really good doubles and we have not really played good doubles all year,” said coach Martin Stiegwardt. “We kind of got unlucky, Yusuf who went undefeated all year his knee started bothering him, and Miguel did a hard move and ended up twisting his neck.”
Leading the match 1-0, the Bucs looked to increase their lead in singles play. In the No.1 seed, Sergi Fontcuberta (Barcelona, Spain) was not able to get the Bucs the start they needed. Fontcuberta lost the first set 6-2 and the second set 6-4.
David Gonzalez (Barcelona, Spain) responded for the Bucs as the fifth seed winning both sets 6-2.
Now leading 2-1 in the match, the Bucs had momentum going into the next match set. Fourth seed Yusuf Khamis (Cairo, Eygpt) had an opportunity to help extend the Bucs’ lead. However, he lost both his sets 6-3 tying the match series 2-2.
Sixth seed Miguel Este (Caracas, Venezuela) came up short in his first set losing 6-4. He battled to win the second set 6-2. Ultimately, he lost the third set 6-0 giving Old Dominion a 3-2 lead.
The Bucs went on to lose the match 4-3.
“This year is a really tough schedule,” said Stiegwardt. “I did it because I believe we have the level to compete. I think it’s going help us going forward building the right mindset.”
