BOCA RATON, FL (March 8) – For the first time in nearly two years, Florida Atlantic University was defeated at home. In a battle of two nationally ranked teams, the #62 Owls fell to #54 Georgia Tech, 4-3, March 8 in Boca Raton.
The loss snaps FAU’s five-match winning streak, and it’s the first time since March 26, 1999, the Owls have been defeated at home; a span of 10-straight home victories. The last team to defeat FAU at home was also Georgia Tech.
In Thursday’s match, FAU (6-3) started out by winning two of the three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. But Georgia Tech (7-3) won four singles matches to claim the victory.
Sophomore Roger Anderson earned a win at No. 2 singles, sophomore Stephen Moros won at No. 4 and freshman Joao Menano won at No. 6. With the match tied at 3, Tech sophomore David Wright defeated Martin Jirak, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. The deciding match was the only one of the day that went three sets.
Georgia Tech returns home to host UC Irvine Sunday at 10 a.m.
Singles
1. Doug Devriendt (FAU) d. Romain Coirault (GT) 6-0, 7-5.
2. Roger Anderson (GT) d. Yalin Bilgin (FAU) 6-2, 6-4.
3. David Wright (GT) d. Martin Jirak (FAU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
4. Stephen Moros (GT) d. Fabio Faerman (FAU) 6-4, 6-4.
5. Cristian Paiz (FAU) d. Alex Navinkov (GT) 6-2, 6-4.
6. Joao Menano (GT) d. Sandro Spotti (FAU) 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles
1. Bilgin/Jirak (FAU) d. Anderson/Wright (GT) 8-4.
2. Coirault/Menano (GT) d. Faerman/Spotti (FAU) 8-6.
3. Devriendt/Paiz (FAU) d. Sergio Aguirre/Jason Jeong (GT) 8-2.
