Firebirds Men’s Tennis Sweeps Shepherd in Season Opener
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV – The new-look Firebirds men's tennis team, with five fresh, new student-athletes on the roster, earned a dominant, 9-0 sweep of non-region foe Shepherd University on Tuesday, September 9th.
UDC (1-0) cruised through all three doubles matches and all six singles matches en-route to the shut-out victory – it's fifth straight win over Shepherd going back to 2009-10.
In doubles play, two team newcomers - freshmen Ander Murillo (Business Management – Mondragon, Spain/Arizmendi Ikastola) and Diego Pinto (Electrical Engineering – Santa Cruz, Bolivia/Franco Bolivia) - blew right by Austin Thomas and Louis Charette, 8-0 at the No. 3 spot. Next in was the first doubles team of fourth-year senior captain Simon Andersson (Business Management – Ystad, Sweden/Sydskanska Gymnasiet) and freshman Alexis Baguelin (Business Management – Le Houlme, France/Lycee Rey) with an 8-2 victory over Steven Lesko and Steve Kolumban. Another pair of newcomers, Rok Bozic (Psychology – Ljubljana, Slovenia/Srednja Ekonomska Sola Roska) and Marco Feligioni (Architecture – Citta di Castello, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Citta di Piero) completed the doubles sweep at No. 2 with an 8-5 victory over Grant Davis and Will Wheatley.
Needing just two singles wins to clinch the match victory, the Firebirds went on to sweep all six singles matches for good measure. First, Pinto finished off Charette in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6, and Andersson quickly defeated Kolumban, 6-2, 6-2 at 3rd singles to clinch the UDC victory. Bozic followed with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles, and then Murillo handed Wheatley a 6-1, 6-1 defeat at No. 4. Feligioni and Pinto completed the match sweep as each earned wins at No. 5 and No. 1, respectively. Feligioni bested Thomas, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5, and Baguelin, UDC's freshman No. 1 singles player, came back from down a set to beat Grant Davis, 2-6, 6-4, 10-3.
UDC's next match is Wednesday, September 17th at 2 p.m. at home vs. Georgetown.