DAHLONEGA, Ga. - The No. 3-ranked (ITA Division II Top 50) Flagler College men's tennis team defeated No. 22 University of North Georgia 6-1 to open Peach Belt Conference play Friday afternoon at the UNG Tennis Complex at Yahoola Creek.
The Saints improved to 11-2 overall. The Nighthawks dropped to 7-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Flagler had its match at Lander University moved to Saturday at 4:30 p.m. due to the forecast of rain on Sunday.
In doubles, the Saints took two of the three matches. No. 28
Simon Malis and
Ilian Borlee took the first win of the day against Robin Eldin and Juan Cruz Blanco, 6-1. The last doubles win came from
Baptiste Mercier and
Aly El Rafie over Marcos Castellanos and Franco Rebora, 6-1.
In the process of taking five of the six singles matches, the Saints defeated two ranked opponents. Borlee won in straight sets 6-2 and 6-2 against Rebora to give Flagler their first singles point. El Rafie followed finishing his match in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-2, against Eliseo Alcalde. The first ranked singles win of the day came from No. 30 Mercier against No. 56 Eldin in three sets. He won the first set 6-4 and took set three 6-0. The upset of the match came in No. 63 Malis's match against No. 15 Pedro Liborio. After exchanging 6-2 sets, Malis captured another ranked win from his 6-4 third set. The last win of the day came from
Makary Adamek against Cruz Blanco in three sets. Taking set one 6-4, Adamek put the match away in set three 6-3.
