Firebirds Storm Back to Beat STAC, 6-3
ORANGEBURG, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's tennis team stormed back from down 3-1 and won five straight singles matches to defeat East Coast Conference foe St. Thomas Aquinas, 6-3 on Saturday night at Match Point Tennis Club.
The Firebirds improved to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in league play with the win, and the Spartans fell to 6-6 overall and 0-2 in the ECC.
Juniors Rok Bozic and Diego Pinto, fresh off their upset victory over the top-ranked doubles team in the East Region from Queens, earned an 8-4 victory vs. Aaron Stahl and Luke Taplin at No. 1 doubles. STAC went on to win the other two doubles matches at the No. 3 and No. 2 flights, and the Spartans led 2-1 heading into singles play.
Javier Munoz then extended STAC's lead to 3-1 with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Pinto at No. 2 singles, but the Firebirds soared to five straight singles wins to complete the victory. Junior Macro Feligioni bested Taplin, 7-6 (6), 6-1 at No. 5, followed by junior Alexis Baguelin defeating Andreu Farragut, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 to force a 3-all tie. Junior Ander Murillo then gave UDC its first lead of the night, 4-3, as he beat Enej Hasicevic in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Freshman Josip Marinic improved to 5-0 this spring as he outlasted Eddy de Abreu, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1 at No. 6 for the decisive fifth point of the match. Junior Rok Bozic then finished off the string of singles victories with a come-from-behind, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 No. 1 singles win vs. Stahl, and UDC won by a final score of 6-3.
UDC is back in action at home on Tuesday, April 4th at 2 p.m. vs. non-conference foe Virginia Union.