The Florida Atlantic University men’s tennis team earned a 4-3 victory against Utah State on March 10, coming from behind in a closely contested match at the Kimberly V. Strauss Tennis Center in Boca Raton.
The result is significant for the Owls, who improved their season record to 6-5 after overcoming early setbacks, including losing the doubles point and having a player medically retire during singles play.
Ricardo Gonzalez, FAU’s Director of Tennis, said, “Today was a super gritty performance from our team. Utah State is a very tough team and they were very hungry to take us down. Our boys did a good job staying tough when it mattered. Kudos to Mark, Marek, Simon and Jan for picking up wins in singles to get the victory for the team.”
Utah State initially took the lead by winning the doubles point in tiebreak fashion. The Owls’ pair Lucca Pignaton and Luca Miremont secured court #3, but Utah State clinched courts #1 and #2 to go ahead. In singles play, Simon Myslivec leveled the score with a straight-set win on court #4 before Utah State regained an advantage with another singles victory and FAU faced a retirement on court #2. Marek Pazdera won his match on court #3 for FAU, while junior Mark Havlicek delivered a three-set win on court #1 to tie the overall score at three apiece.
Jan Kusy sealed the comeback for Florida Atlantic with a decisive three-set win on court #5. The final tally was Florida Atlantic 4 (6-5) versus Utah State (7-5) 3.
Looking ahead, Florida Atlantic will host Rice University on Friday, March 13 at 5 p.m., following an earlier women’s match at 11 a.m. All matches are held at the Kimberly V. Strauss Tennis Center and are open to the public free of charge.
