The University of Miami Men’s tennis team fell 4-0 against the No.9 ranked UCF Knights in Orlando on Friday evening.
UM struggled from the very beginning, failing to gain momentum in doubles. The talented Knights squad came out strong, dominating their service games and controlling the net.
Antonio Prat and Nacho Serra Sanchez were the first to lose for Miami as they fell 3-6 to UCF’s Wissam Abderrahman and Mehdi Benchakroun at court two.
At court three, Luca Hotze and Nicolas Oliveira clinched the doubles point for the Knights, taking down Rafael Segado and Jules Garot.
The Hurricanes’ Saud Alhogbani and Jakub Kroslak were winning 5-4 at court one when the point was decided.
Singles play did not go any better for Miami.
The Knights came out on fire, as Pedro Rodrigues defeated Mehdi Sadaoui 6-0, 6-2. Court 5 was a similar result with Segado falling 6-3, 6-1 to UCF’s Paul Colin.
UCF clinched the sweep at court 3 with Benchakroun taking down Kroslak 6-1, 6-4.
Despite the scoreboard, the Hurricanes were able to put up a decent fight on the other courts.
No. 95 Prat was down 6-2, 5-4 with his serve on deck when the match finished, while Serra Sanchez was in a tight battle on court two, holding a 5-1 lead in the second set after losing 6-4 in the first. Finally, Garot held a 7-6(3), 2-1 advantage in his matchup.
Miami fought hard, but was unable to build any sort of traction early against the top-10 Knights, which proved too much to overcome.
The Hurricanes (5-3) will return home to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on Tuesday, Feb. 10 to take on USF (1-5).