FGCU MTEN vs George Washington Recap

The FGCU men's tennis team (4-6) claimed a 5-2 victory over George Washington (3-6) to cap off a well-balanced team effort Sunday afternoon at the FGCU Tennis Complex.

"This was a good weekend for us," head coach CJ Weber said. "Friday was a really tough loss, so I'm really proud of the guys to be able to move on from that. That is not easy to do both mentally and physically, but they woke up and were motivated at practice yesterday and then followed it up with a good win today. I feel blessed to work with this group that is always striving hard for the next thing."

The Eagles began the match by continuing to build off their recent success in doubles play. The duo of sophomore Juan Montes and freshman Pedro Maciel (1-0) finished their doubles match first, earning a 6-2 victory on court No. 3. Junior Feliksas Sakalauskas and Felipe Ramirez (2-2) grabbed a 6-3 win at court No. 2 to secure the doubles point for the home team, giving them a 1-0 lead.

In singles play, four different Eagles earned points for FGCU. Marcelo Tebet (5-4) defeated his competitor in a straight-set victory 6-2, 6-0 at court No. 4. Montes (4-6) dug out a 6-0, 6-4 win on court No. 1 to put the Eagles up 3-0.

The Colonials earned their first point of the day with a straight-set victory at court No. 6, to which Sakalauskas (5-4) responded with a win of his own over at court No. 3. Ramirez (5-4) scored the Eagles' final point with a 6-0, 7-6 triumph on court No. 2 that sealed the win for the Green and Blue. George Washington grabbed the last point of the day at court No. 5.

Results:
Singles competition
1. MONTES, Juan (FGCU) def. Ryan Navarro (GW) 6-0, 6-4
2. RAMIREZ, Felipe (FGCU) def. Zicheng Zeng (GW) 6-0, 7-6
3. SAKALAUSKAS,Feliksas (FGCU) def. Ben Barnett (GW) 6-4, 6-2
4. TEBET, Marcelo (FGCU) def. Dennis Afanasev (GW) 6-2, 6-0
5. Lawrence Sciglitano (GW) def. FERNANDEZ, Javier (FGCU) 6-3, 7-5
6. Hanyu Liu (GW) def. MACIEL, Pedro (FGCU) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. Zicheng Zeng/Ben Barnett (GW) def. TEBET, Marcelo/RUIZ, Mateo (FGCU) 4-2, unfinished
2. SAKALAUSKAS,Feliksas/RAMIREZ, Felipe (FGCU) def. Hanyu Liu/Lawrence Sciglitano (GW) 6-3
3. MONTES, Juan/MACIEL, Pedro (FGCU) def. Dennis Afanasev/Ryan Navarro (GW) 6-2

Up Next:
FGCU will take on UNC Asheville and UNC Wilmington in back-to-back matches on Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14. Wednesday's match is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and Thursday's is set for 5 p.m. under the lights.