Orlando, Fla. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team closed out its week-long spring break road trip on Friday, falling to St. Thomas University (FL), 5-2, at the USTA Lake Nona Campus.
STAC slips to 6-3 on the year, while STU improves to 3-5.
Doubles
St. Thomas put together a clean sweep of all doubles bouts with No. 3 Pierlugi Cruypemmimck & Maxime Navrotchi defeating Lorenzo Meschini & Nathan Yacar, 6-4 followed by No. 1 Pablo Olmedo & Ivan Menendez downing Henry Ronnberg & Theo Renoux, 7-5 and finally No. 2 Mariano Alberto Hasenhkopf & Arthur Bugeaud beating Nagamitsu Kuroda & Ondrej Sramek, 7-6 (7-3) to take the first team point.
Singles
In singles play, the Bobcats put together a pair of victories with No. 1 Mariano Alberto Hasenhkopf besting Lorenzo Meschini 6-3, 6-0 and No. 2 Ivan Menendez shutting down Theo Renoux 6-4, 6-3 to put the maroon and gold on the ropes. STAC earned a hard-fought victory with No. 3 Henry Ronnberg downing Pablo Olmedo 7-6 (2), 6-0. Two more Bobcats victories by No. 5 Pierlugi Cruypemmimck over Nathan Yacar 6-1, 6-3 and No. 4 Jan Gewaltig against Ondrej Sramek 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (2) put the match in the hands of St. Thomas (FL). No. 6 Nagamitsu Kuroda took down Maxime Navrotchi 7-5, 7-5 to close out the day's events.
ST. THOMAS (FL) 5/STAC 2 - OFFICIAL RESULTS
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2
SINGLES
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3, 5*, 4, 6
THE ROCKHILL REPORT
"We had some mixed results on the trip but if the team is willing to understand and learn from this experience, we will have a chance to improve," stated Head Coach Dan Rockhill.
"We certainly did not have our best level but there were plenty of bright spots that are encouraging. I thought Mitsu, Nathan and Bert had good trips. All have surely earned additional opportunities going forward. The good news is that I believe that entire roster got better this week. Our doubles is improving. If we can play STAC doubles and add a bit more variety to what we are doing, we will be fine."
"We need to focus on playing every point hard and not taking points off. In addition, our decision making will need to improve. I sincerely hope that our team will develop a hunger to succeed that I haven't seen yet. It just must matter more."
"I am looking forward to getting back on the courts and playing more matches. I am in search of leaders that I hope will emerge. If the team can lead itself and play for each other with desire, we will have an opportunity to have a good season."
UP NEXT
STAC returns to New York and will face the University of the District of Columbia on Friday, March 20 at the Riley Family Tennis Courts.