ORLANDO, Fla. – Freshman Juan Manuel Melian Puigventos captured his third consecutive singles win, but could not lead Georgia Southern past Central Florida Sunday afternoon (Feb. 7). The Eagles suffered a tough 6-1 decision at the UCF Tennis Complex.
Georgia Southern fell to 1-4 on the year, while Central Florida captured its first dual win of the 2010 season, improving to 1-1. The Knights opened competition sweeping the doubles point and nabbed five of six singles contests for the win.
“We faced another tough team this afternoon,” said head coach Justin Miles. “Hopefully we will keep our heads up and fight harder against our matches coming up.”
UCF opened doubles play grabbing the first two matches off the courts dropping only two games in the process. The 21st-ranked doubles tandem of Marc Rocafort and Blaze Schwartz rounded out the doubles sweep with an 8-3 victory from the top seed as the Knights headed into singles play with a 1-0 advantage.
Singles wins at the No. 1 and 3 seeds, respectively, put the Knights ahead of the Eagles, 3-0. Rocafort edged Jayraj Jadeja at the top singles position, 6-0, 6-3, before Brock Sakey defeated senior Gregory Bekkers, 6-2, 6-1, from the three seed. Johan Beigart clinched the match for UCF capturing a straight set win at No. 4. The senior uprooted Alain Garrido, 6-4, 6-2, to seal the win.
The Knights took wins from the bottom two seeds before freshman Melian Puigventos (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) recorded Georgia Southern’s lone victory of the day. The Eagle challenged Nino Hasandedic at the two seed, notching a straight set victory. Melian Puigventos took the first set in a tiebreak, 7-6 (2), before cruising to a 6-3 second set victory for the win.
“We played a tough match today, but we will regroup and learn from today to prepare for tomorrow at Bethune-Cookman,” stated Miles. “It should be another good match and we expect to have some good results tomorrow.”
Georgia Southern closes out this three-match road swing on Monday, Feb. 8 at Bethune-Cookman. First serve is slated for 1:00 p.m.
