Florida Atlantic University’s men’s tennis team dropped a close match to UCF 4-3, Friday afternoon.

The Owls (8-4) jumped into the national spotlight Tuesday with a national rank of No. 59. Sophomore Marc Abdelnour and senior Eddie Majcher were ranked no. 49 in doubles and Abdelnour was ranked no. 77 in singles. On Wednesday Abdelnour earned the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week honors. The excitement would be tempered with a hard-fought match on Friday.

The Owls captured the double point with an 8-4 victory by Abdelnour and Majcher at no. 1. Daniel Vardag and Joshua Scholl were 8-5 winners at no. 2 to pick up the point.

Riding the momentum Abdelnour defeated Tarek Ben Soltane 6-1, 6-2 to move to 12-0 in dual match play and 17-3 overall. Vardag fell in straight sets to Marc Rocafort at no. 2 while Majcher was victorious over Joe Delinks at no. 6 singles, 6-2, 6-2, to give FAU a 3-1 advantage.

UCF pulled within one with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Joshua Scholl at no. 4 singles. Santiago Nieto would fall 7-5, 6-4 at no. 5 singles.

The fourth and deciding point was played out on court three. Lawrence Harradine, who entered the match at 16-3 on the season,  dropped the first set 7-5. He rebounded winning the second set 6-1 but fell in the third and deciding set 6-2 allowing UCF to take the match.

FAU will remain in Orlando where they will face Georgia State Saturday morning.




Source:  FAU Media Relations