SAINT LEO, Fla. (May 13, 2024) - Men's tennis captured victory in their first game of the NCAA South Regional, taking down the #6 seed Embry-Riddle Eagles by a score fo 4-0. The win moves Rollins to 20-2 on the season.
It was Saint Leo striking first in doubles as #38 Fernando Alonso/Caelan Potts outplayed
Guillermo Castaneda/
Charlie Putrino to a 6-1 final. Minutes later, the Tars would even things up on court three where
Efe Comu/
Nico de Giacomo defeated Safar Rasulov/Alvaro Diaz Rodrigo 6-4. That put all eyes on the featured court where a humdinger of a match was taking place between Joshua Nuyts/Michele Iftimie and
Luke Quaynor/
Richard Stoiberer. It took a tie break set, but in the end it was Rollins coming out on top with a 7-6 (1) final.
Castaneda was the first to finish his singles match, making light work of Potts 6-0, 6-2. On court one, it was a marquee matchup featuring #31 Rasulov and #28 Comu. The last time these two played, the match went unfinished as Rollins claimed third-place in the SSC tournament. This time, however, it was Comu establishing dominance with a 6-4, 6-1 win.
Quaynor was quick to follow suit on number two as he claimed victory with a 6-4, 6-4 performance versus Nuyts, giving Rollins the 4-0 win.
In the unfinished matches,
Nico de Giacomo was entering the third set against Iftimie, Stoiberer was about to start a second set tiebreak, and
Charlie Putrino was in the middle of the third set in his match against Rodrigo.
"What a day with lightning and some rain delays," remarked head coach
Jay Friedman. "Embry Riddle clearly came out having made some adjustments from two weeks ago, and they played hard. Today we are just happy to advance. Tomorrow we get the matchup we wanted, so off to prepare we go."
Earlier in the day, #2 seed Saint Leo defeated #7 Florida Southern, setting up a monster matchup between the Tars and Lions, two of the top five teams in the country. In their lone contest earlier this year, Saint Leo defeated Rollins 5-2 on March 9.
The two teams will faceoff at 11:00 am on Tuesday, May 14. The winner will advance to the National Championship bracket during next week's NCAA Spring Sports Festival.
