Oct. 14, 2008

The Florida Atlantic University men's tennis team had a strong showing this past weekend in singles play at the UNF Invite.

Lawrence Harradine jumped from the no. 30 position in the B flight singles play to walk away with the title. Harradine battled back in the semifinals from one set down to defeat Gabriel Maena of South Carolina State 2-6, 6-4, 11-9. He advanced moments later and defeated Guillherme Sahadhi of Troy in straight sets, 7-6 (6), 6-3. Also in the B flight, Daniel Vardag fell into the consolation draw with a second round loss. He would make it to the semifinal round before play was halted on Sunday.

In the A singles flight, no. 1 seed Marc Abdelnour advanced to the finals, rallying from a first set loss to Alex Stamchev of Auburn to win in three sets in the semifinals, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8. Abdelnour lost in the finals to the no. 2 seed Ivan Milijocevic of South Carolina State 7-5, 6-2.

"We are excited for Marc reaching the finals in the A draw and for Lawrence winning the B draw," said Men's Tennis Head Coach Brandon Stokes. "He sustained an acceptable level of effort all weekend in singles play and it is terrific to see his confidence grow. His success is a boost to our team."

In the C singles flight, Eddie Majcher advanced to Sunday's semifinal round. He fell to the eventual champion Marcos Chiaretti of North Florida 6-0, 6-4. "Overall, it was a positive start to our competitive fall season. We battled hard and smart in most of our singles matches. Our team continues to get stronger and we will continue to improve. The exciting part is that we are just beginning the competitive part of the fall season so we have many more opportunities to apply what we learned from these early matches."

The men's tennis team heads to Lexington, Kentucky for the ITA Southeast Regional, beginning on Thursday, October 16, and going through Monday, October 20.

Day 1 Flight A Doubles
Radek Pivonka/Gabriel Maena (SCSU) def. Marc Abdelnour/Dan Vardag (FAU) 8-6
Flight B Doubles
Chapman Mitchell/Justin Wimpee (Mercer) def. Lawrence Harradine/Josh Scholl (FAU) 8-6
Flight C Doubles
David Grunt/Jan Langer (SCSU) def. Osvaldo Benitez/Eddie Majcher (FAU) 9-7

Day 2
Flight A Singles
Marc Abdelnour (FAU) def. Fernando Armendaris (Mercer) 6-2, 6-2
Abdelnour def. Joris De Weerdt (GSU) 6-3, 6-4
Flight B Singles
Lawrence Harradine (FAU) def. Phil Janz (Troy) 6-3, 6-2
Harradine def. Edio Castanhel (GSU) 6-3, 6-1
Harradine def. David Grunt (SCSU) 6-2, 6-1
Tomas Dobrotka (SCSU) def. Dan Vardag (FAU) 3-6, 6-4, 11-9
Flight C Singles
Osvaldo Benitez (FAU) def. Felipe Cirne Lima (Belmont) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
KC Griffin (Memphis) def. Benitez 6-7 (4), 6-0, 10-7
Eddie Majcher (FAU) def. Maxime Zamora (Troy) (ns)
Majcher def. Marcos Oliveira (JU) 6-2, 6-3
Majcher def. Jan Langer (SCSU) 6-3, 6-4

Day 3
Flight A Singles
Marc Abdelnour def. Alex Stamchev (Auburn) 2-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8
Ivan Milijocevic def. Abdelnour 7-5, 6-2
Flight B Singles
Lawrence Harradine def. Gabriel Maena (SCSU) 2-6, 6-4, 11-9
Harradine def. Guillherme Sahadhi (Troy) 7-6 (6), 6-3
Consolation
Daniel Vardag def. Spencer Heflin (Memphis) 6-2, 6-0
Vardag def. Matthew Rock (JU) 4-6, 6-2, 10-5
Flight C Singles
Marcos Chiaretti (UNF) def. Eddie Majcher 6-0, 6-4