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UAB Men's Tennis Team Rallies For 4-3 Win Over East Tennessee State
April 7, 2006 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's tennis team rallied back from a 3-2 deficit with wins at No. 2 and 3 singles to post a 4-3 victory here Friday over No. 69-ranked East Tennessee State. With the win, the Blazers have now won eight of their last nine dual matches and improved their record on the season to 11-3. ETSU fell to 18-6 with the loss and saw its 12-match win streak come to an end. The Bucs' previous five losses had all come to opponents ranked in the top 50 nationally. The Blazers were trailing by a 3-2 margin to the Buccaneers when UAB senior Kristijan Mitrovski pulled out a 7-6, 7-5 win at the No. 3 position over ETSU's Juan Crosa to even the score at 3-3. That left the outcome in the hands of the only remaining match, that at No. 2 singles between the fellow Blazer senior Sebastian Falk and the Bucs' Felix Insaurralde. Falk fought back after losing the first set 4-6, to win the next two, 6-1, 6-3 and give UAB its second victory over a ranked team in the past three days. "This was a hard-fought win," said Blazers' head coach Derek Tarr. "There's no doubt this was one of the better teams we have played this year. They probably have the best group of 4-5-6 players that we have played. Our seniors really stepped up when we were down and showed some great leadership. This was an outstanding win for our team." UAB took a 1-0 lead in the match by winning the doubles point. Anton Mavrin and Johannes Spangenberg were 8-5 winners at No. 1 doubles over ETSU's Insaurralde and Lisandro Picardo. The Blazers also were winners at No. 3 as Mitrovski and Thomas Weiss defeated the Bucs' duo of Crosa and Matt Stanley, 8-3. ETSU posted a win at No. 2 doubles as Sebastian Serrona and Oscar Olivares beat Falk and Andre Maier, 8-6.
The Blazers picked up their other singles win at No. 1 as Mavrin defeated Oscar Posada, 1-0, retired. As Tarr mentioned, ETSU's strength came at the lower half of their singles lineup as the Buccaneers swept UAB at No. 4, 5 and 6 singles. At No. 4, Olivares defeated the Blazers' Maier, 6-2, 7-5. Picardo was a 6-1, 7-6 victor over UAB's Spangenberg at No. 5 singles while Serrano downed the Blazers' Kruno Despotovski in tightly-contested match, 7-5, 7-6. UAB's next action will come next Wednesday, April 12 when the Blazers play host to No. 45-ranked Alabama. The match will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Brook Highland Racquet Club. UAB 4, East Tennessee State 3 Singles No. 1 - Anton Mavrin (UAB) def. Oscar Posada (ETSU) 1-0, default No. 2 - Sebastian Falk (UAB) def. Felix Insaurralde (ETSU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 No. 3 - Kristijan Mitrovski (UAB) def. Juan Crosa (ETSU) 7-6, 7-5 No. 4 - Enrique Olivares (ETSU) def. Andre Maier (UAB) 6-2, 7-5 No. 5 - Lisandro Picardo (ETSU) def. Johannes Spangenberg (UAB) 6-1, 7-6 No. 6 - Sebastian Serrano (ETSU) def. Kruno Despotovski (UAB) 7-5, 7-6 Doubles No. 1 - Mavrin/Spangenberg (UAB) def. Picardo/Insaurralde (ETSU) 8-5 No. 2 - Olivares/Serrano (ETSU) def. Falk/Maier (UAB) 8-6 No. 3 - Mitrovski/Thomas Weiss (UAB) def. Crosa/Matt Stanley (ETSU) 8-3 Records: UAB 11-3, ETSU 18-6 |
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