ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. In a top-15 showdown, the No. 3 (ITA Division II top 25) Flagler College men's tennis team defeated the No. 15 University of Charleston, 6-1 Thursday afternoon at the Pollard Tennis Center.
The Saints move up to 4-1 on the season, all against ranked opponents, while the Golden Eagles drop to 7-2. Flagler hosts Lenoir-Rhyne University on Sunday at 11 a.m.
A match featuring six ranked players all turned in favor for the Saints. The only doubles pair to play today, No. 7 Jorge Perez Diaz and Marcelo Mifano Pinto of Charleston, had their match end fast by
Aniss Rafiq and
Simon Malis. Malis and Rafiq earned the Saints their first step towards victory in a 6-1 win.
Baptiste Mercier and
Ilian Borlee sealed the doubles point for the Saints after defeating Omar Elsamahy and Vincente Garcia, 6-3.
A massive upset for the Saints came in their first singles point of the match, where
Aly El Rafie defeated No. 39 Pinto, 6-1, 6-0. Not far behind El Rafie was No. 28 Malis, who finished his match against Elsamahy 6-2, 6-3. The only match to feature two ranked players against each other was No. 8 Rafiq versus No. 6 Perez. Earning his first win against a top-10 opponent, Rafiq took both his sets 6-3 to seal the match for the Saints.
Continuing their play, No. 20 Mercier had a tight match against Jules Alias which resulted in the Saints fifth point from a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) match. The last match of the day came from Borlee and Garcia. Exchanging 6-4 sets, Borlee capped off a long and arduous set three tie break with a 14-12 win.
