Orlando, Fla. - After a one day delay due to rainy conditions, the St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team kicked off its 2023 Sunshine State road trip with a 5-2 victory over Dallas Baptist University on Tuesday.
STAC remains perfect on the year, moving to 6-0, while DBU slips to 10-7.
Dallas Baptist opened the match, claiming the doubles point on the strength of wins in the #3 and #2 slots, as the team of Bradley Neil and Will Fiala defeated Tony Khamassi and Ondrej Sramek, 7-6 (7-5) and Fabian Rosales and Arturo Langle beat Tobias Fuerschuss and Don Vinz Lominoque, 7-6 (7-4). STAC's lone triumph came in the top slot, as the duo of Odysseas Papaioannou and Ludovico Truffelli were victorious against Aaron Capone and Matthew Abbey, 6-4.
Once singles competition got underway, a much different Spartans squad came to play, sweeping five of six matches. However, the maroon and gold did face some early adversity when Don Vinz Lominoque dropped his match to Fabian Rosales to give DBU a 2-0 advantage. It would be Ondrej Sramek who finally got STAC its first point of the day via a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Arturo Langle. Lennart Lehmann followed things up with a 6-1, 6-2 victory to tie the match at 2-2 and push the momentum in the direction of St. Thomas Aquinas. Tobias Fuerschuss was next to get a W, scoring a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Aaron Capone. The match clinching victory came courtesy of Ludovico Truffelli, who took care of business against his opponent, Grant McKenzie by the scores of 6-4, 6-3. Odysseas Papaioannou finished the day by winning a third set tie-breaker to down Matthew Abbey 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Odysseas Papaioannou and Ludovico Truffelli both went 2-0 on the day, winning both their doubles and singles matches.
STAC 5/DALLAS BAPTIST 2 - OFFICIAL RESULTS
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2*
SINGLES
2. Ludovico Truffelli (STAC) def. Grant McKenzie (DBU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Tobias Fuerschuss (STAC) def. Aaron Capone (DBU) 6-2, 6-3
4. Lennart Lehmann (STAC) def. Ricardo Carvajalino (DBU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Ondrej Sramek (STAC) def. Arturo Langle (DBU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Fabian Rosales (DBU) def. Don Vinz Lominoque (STAC) 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2*, 1
"We served for all three doubles sets but only came away with one of them, which was disappointing. We will need to find a way to close out important sets confidently in the future. Hopefully this experience will help us."
"Lenny and Ondrej set the tone in the singles getting out to fast leads", stated Rockhill. "They continued to do the work until the handshake. I was also happy for Ludo, Ody and Tobi who did some hard things well. Ludo has built his own confidence and is doing exactly what the team needs him to do this year. We need our entire roster to follow suit going forward."
"Our coaching staff is going to make a few necessary adjustments and we will get back out to the courts tomorrow versus Carthage."
UP NEXT
STAC takes on Carthage College in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, March 15 (8:00 a.m.), as the team's spring break tour continues.