Oct. 23, 2009

Georg Matschke and Daniel Vardag advanced to Saturday's second round in singles action with strong victories to highlight the Florida Atlantic University men's tennis team's effort at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regional at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.

FAU sophomore Daniel Vardag advances in the singles draw after a 6-4, 6-4 victory over rival Aaron May of Florida State University.

FAU freshman Georg Matschke seized the moment after receiving a wild card into the main draw with a qualifying round loss on Thursday. He defeated Matt Rock of Florida Gulf Coast University in straight sets, winning the opener in a tiebreaker 7-6. Matschke then won the second set 6-3 to move on to Saturday's second round.

Head Coach Brandon Stokes was proud to see the determination from Vardag and Matschke to win their matches in pressure-packed situations.

"They fought hard even through the close points to come out on top and win in straight sets," said Stokes. "Georg seized the moment after getting into the main draw despite losing yesterday's qualifying round. He fought hard and played a good match."

Junior Marc Abdelnour fell in his opening round match in straight sets to Vahid Mirzadeh of Florida State. He drops into the consolation bracket and will face Barnabas Carrega of the University of Miami on Saturday.

Lawrence Harradine dropped a straight set decision to the tournament's number one seed and nation's fourth ranked player Nate Schnugg of Georgia. Harradine will now will face Owen Long of FSU consolation match.

"Lawrence got to play on the stadium court which was a great learning experience for him," said Stokes. "He had his opportunities with break points throughout the match. Unfortunately, he couldn't capitalize on those chances."

In doubles action, the duo of Abdelnour and Matschke advanced to the second round with an 8-6 victory over a team from Georgia State University. Later in the afternoon they fell by the identical score to the host Bulldogs.

The team of Vardag and Harradine lost to a pairing from the University of Florida.

Tomorrow's action at the ITA Southeast Regional will get underway at 11 a.m.

Singles Draw

(1) Nate Schnugg (UGA def. Lawrence Harradine (FAU) 6-0, 6-4

Vahid Mirzadeh (FSU) def. Marc Abdelnour (FAU) 6-3, 6-1

Daniel Vardag (FAU) def. Aaron May (FSU) 6-4, 6-4

Georg Matschke (FAU) def. Matt Rock (FGCU) 7-6 (5), 6-3

Doubles Draw (1st round)

Billy Federhofer/Erik Corace (UF) def. Daniel Vardag/Lawrence Harradine (FAU) 8-4

Marc Abdelnour/Georg Matschke (FAU) def. Gregory Bekkers/Matthijs Verdam (GSU) 8-6

(2nd round)

Drake Bernstein/Javier Garripiz (UGA) def. Marc Abdelnour/Georg Matschke (FAU) 8-6