The Men’s Tennis team lost their conference opener on the road against Florida State 6-1 this past Saturday, Feb. 25, dropping to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in ACC play for the season.
Despite the lopsided defeat, Tech got off to a fast start, as senior Kevin King won his singles match at the No. 1 spot 6-1, 6-2 with little struggle. King and junior Juan Spir also won their doubles match 8-4 in the Jackets’ lone doubles victory for the day. King has arguably had the best year of his career thus far, moving to 14-3 in singles play and 8-4 in doubles play for the season.
However, these were the only bright spots for the slumping Jackets. In doubles play, apart from King and Spir, the Jackets could not come up with a victory.
The freshman pair of Eduardo Segura and Sebastian Lopez lost 8-5 to their opponents Anderson Reed and Dominic Cotrone, while junioe Juan Melian and freshman Vikram Hundal lost to their opponents Andres Bucaro and Benjamin Lock, 8-6.
In singles play, Florida State’s Blake Davis quickly defeated Spir 6-1, 6-3, breaking the junior’s serve five times. This performance was indicative of Spir’s up-and -down season, as he is 3-4 at the No. 2 singles spot.
The day’s drama centered mainly on the No. 3 and No. 4 singles matches. At the No. 3 spot, Melian found himself in a hole after losing the set to FSU’s Christian Gonzalez Mendez 6-4.
However, Melian fought back, pulling even and seizing the second set 7-5. However, this was as far as he would get, dropping the third set tie-breaker 10-2. The loss dropped Melian to 6-3 overall in singles play this season.
In the No. 4 singles match, senior Dusan Miljevic fell behind after dropping his serve late in the first set, 7-5. Miljevic would storm back though, taking the second set in commanding fashion, winning 6-0. But just like Melian before him, Miljevic could not seal the deal and lost the deciding set 6-3.
The Jackets’ struggles were not over for the day. Freshmen Eduardo Segura and Sebastian Lopez lost their matches 6-1, 7-5 and 6-3, 6-1, respectively to clinch the team match win for the Seminoles.
The loss dropped the Jackets to 5-6 on the season, below expectations for the team ranked No. 15 in the nation coming into 2012. The team will look to turn things around as they take on conference rival Clemson at home on Sunday, March 4, at Bill Moore Tennis Center.