Savannah, Ga. —The #14 nationally ranked STU Men's Tennis Team took on conference rival SCAD Bees in Orlando on Saturday. The Bobcats took their 9-2 record looking to start another winning streak and establish themselves as the clear #2 team in the conference behind Embry Riddle.
For a change, the match started off with all six singles matches going on first followed by the doubles matches. The Bobcats were caught a bit off guard and found themselves in a deep hole as the match got down to the wire. SCAD raced out to a 3-0 lead as STU dropped #2, #3, and #4 singles. Freshman
Nicolas Etienne gave STU a point and it was 3-1. With Seniors
Adrian Escarate and
Federico Acevedo battling in the third and deciding sets of their matches. Acevedo came up short in the third as SCAD led 4-1. Escarate came through in the clutch to keep the Bobcats alive as the score was 4-2 going into the doubles.
The Bobcats needed to sweep all three doubles in order to clinch the victory. With their backs against the wall the Bobcats came through in the clutch with #3 doubles
Andrew Rifkin and
Federico Acevedo won their match followed by #2 Gonzalo "Tito" Gayoso and
Jeremy Bache to even out the match at 4-4. It came down to #1 as
Adrian Escarate and
Nicolas Etienne clinched the victory for the Bobcats with their doubles victory. This was probably one of the biggest comebacks that a team can overcome.
The Bobcats admitted that they felt like everything was against them today and that it just wasn't their day, but with the entire season and national championship hopes the Bobcats rallied and dug deep to pull off a huge win 5-4.