The FGCU men's and women's tennis teams picked up wins on day one of the Dick Vitale Invitational at the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club in Bradenton, Florida.
For the women in doubles, the duo of junior Sofia Perez and sophomore Madison Gallegos moved onto the sweet sixteen as they defeated Boston College's Laura Lopez and Natasha Irani 7-5 and faced USF's Amelie Boy and Ana Roman Dominguez.
On the men's side, senior Mateo Ruiz and junior Marcelo Tebet pulled off a 6-0 win against Princeton's Will Peters and Payton Holden.
In singles, Perez advanced to the sweet sixteen after defeating Florida's Tsveta Dimitrova 6-3, 6-2 before falling to USF's Evelyne Tiron.
Tebet and Ruiz marched their way to the doubles final at the Dick Vitale Invitational this weekend, leading the FGCU Eagles in their final team competition of the fall season.
"This was another impressive performance by the guys in doubles" head coach CJ Weber said. "Mateo has especially learned a lot about himself and catapulted his doubles game to another level this year! Marcelo was a great complement to him as well, and when they both play aggressive, I could see them beating anybody in the country. Florida State played well in the final and took it from us; but I was really pleased the way both Mateo and Marcelo played throughout the weekend. For all the other guys, it was a good weekend of competition as well. Every win in this tournament is a quality win, and we picked up some great W's over some of the most premier tennis programs in the country! We've been challenged a lot this fall, and we've learned a lot about ourselves, so now we will see if we can implement these things in our spring championship season."
Tebet began their tournament with an easy win in the first round of the doubles bracket, breezing to a 6-0 win over Princeton to move onto the quarters. Their quarterfinal matchup proved to be even easier as they took a walkover win against Michigan to reach the round of four. In the semis, they took on a pair from Notre Dame and again had little trouble, putting their stamp on a huge weekend with an 8-3 win over the Irish. In the tournament final, the Eagles duo fought tooth and nail with Florida State's Wood/Thongonoa, but came up just short in the end in an 8-5 defeat to finish second.
In singles action, the Eagles sent four players to the fold. Junior Juan Montes was the lone player to earn a win in the first round of the main draw as he took down Bryn Nahrung of Florida State in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the quarters. His tournament came to a close however in the quarterfinal found as Gabe Tichman of Michigan outlasted him in a grinding three setter 6-4, 5-7, 10-6.
Seniors Javier Fernandez and Ezequiel Cerrini both dropped their first round matches before battling back in the consolation bracket with wins.
Cerrini earned wins over Florida State and Florida in the backdraw while Fernandez picked up his win over Notre Dame. Both players were bounced by Enzo Le Seguillon of Florida State late in the draw to end their weekends.
Jjunior Felipe Ramirez didn't take part in the main draw, but earned a pair of 'practice match' victories as he downed Kristofer Siimar of Michigan and Harrison Cacciatore of Florida by 8-4 and 8-6 counts respectively.
The tournament wraps up the Eagles Fall team schedule. Now FGCU will watch as senior Felipe Escobar pairs with Ruiz to become the first players in program history to compete in the ITA National Championships in Surprise, Arizona. The pair will begin play on Wednesday in the desert.
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