COLUMBUS, Ga. — Make it four in a row.

The No. 14 Flagler College men's tennis team continued its winning ways in statement fashion as the Saints knocked off No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific University by a score of 4-3 Saturday at the Walden Tennis Center in Columbus, Ga.

"We won a very close match today versus Azusa," Director of Tennis and men's head coach Thomas Hipp said. "We finally played well in all the doubles, winning two of them. That helped us to come out strong in the singles. Jiri [Jenicek] and Rasmus [Jonsson] played well in particular. Felipe [Carvalho] pulled it off in the third set with playing good points to hold serve at the end. Cedric [Holzmann] came short in the third set.
 
"Hopefully we can gain momentum through this good win!"

The Saints (5-5) will carry its four-game winning streak into next week as Flagler begins a three-match homestand by welcoming Southern New Hampshire University first at 3 p.m. Monday.

Flagler will enjoy this one, which not only continued the positive outcomes, but pushed the Saints over the hump of defeating a top-10 opponent after a highly-competitive schedule thus far has prepared them for this moment. Of the four straight wins, two have come against ranked opponents as Flagler bested No. 16 Concordia College (N.Y.) earlier in the week and now No. 8 APU (6-3).

On Saturday, the Saints leaped in front after the duo of Luca Bolla and Jiri Jenicek got back on track in doubles play with a win over the No. 12-ranked doubles duo of Leyton Bohren/Jesse Haas followed by the second straight Rodrigo Carvalho/Rasmus Jonsson combo victory.

Bolla and Carvalho dropped tough losses in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles, but their teammates made up for it. Jenicek cruised to his fourth consecutive victory, while Jonsson and Felipe Carvalho completed their third and fourth in a row, respectively, to secure the marquee win for the Saints.

 

Singles 1. #13 Jakob Schnaitter (APU) def. #47 Luca Bolla (FLG) 6-2, 6-4

2. #3 Sam Sippel (APU) def. Rodrigo Carvalho (FLG) 6-4, 6-3

3. Jiri Jenicek (FLG) def. Leyton Bohren (APU) 6-4, 6-1

4. Rasmus Jonsson (FLG) def. #39 Ryan Nuno (APU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2

5. Felipe Carvalho (FLG) def. Jesse Haas (APU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

6. Dillon Barnard (APU) def. Cedric Holzmann (FLG) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

 

Doubles 1. Luca Bolla/Jiri Jenicek (FLG) def. #12 Leyton Bohren/Jesse Haas (APU) 6-4

2. Rodrigo Carvalho/Rasmus Jonsson (FLG) def. Ryan Nuno/Jakob Schnaitter (APU) 6-3

3. Sam Sippel/Ethan Smith (APU) def. Tommaso Bagon/Felipe Carvalho (FLG) 6-2

 

Match Notes Azusa Pacific 6-3; National ranking #8; Regional ranking #1

Flagler 5-5; National ranking #14; Regional ranking #4

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,2,3,4,5,6)

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