ST. AUGUSTINE - The No. 2 ranked (ITA Division II Top 50) Flagler College men's tennis team defeated No. 14 Wayne State University of Michigan 4-0 this afternoon at the Pollard Tennis Center.
The Saints are 6-1 overall. The Warriors fell to 8-4 on the season. Flagler has a quick turnaround as it hosts the University of Mount Olive tomorrow at 10 a.m.
A familiar duo from ITA Regionals reemerges in
Ilian Borlee and
Simon Malis. Picking up right where they left off, Borlee and Malis swept Sam Knowles and Tom Wasner 6-0 to give the Saints their first win. New doubles pairing
Baptiste Mercier and
Aly El Rafie clinched the second point for the Saints against Benjamin Hill and Luis Klaus. After going down 0-3, Mercier and El Rafie made a triumphant comeback to force their match into a 6-6 tie break. Dropping the first three points against, the duo went on a seven point run to win the doubles point 7-6 (7-3).
In singles play, the Saints clinched their necessary three wins to stop the match early. Prior to the stoppage, No. 20 Mercier won his first set 7-5 and was winning 4-3 against No. 15, Cedric Drenth.
Makary Adamek also won his first set 6-4 against Hill. El Rafie dropped his first set 6-3 against Knowles, but was a point away from forcing a third set, 5-3.
No. 58 Malis stayed undefeated on the day, handily defeating No. 74 George Day 6-2 and 6-1. Borlee earned the third point for the Saints soon after Malins with his 6-1 and 6-3 win over Wasner. The clinching win came from
Filip Kana over Klaus, 6-4 and 6-1.
