Men's tennis team off to good start at national tournament

The Eastern Florida State College men's tennis team won both matches on the first day of the NJCAA Division I National Tournament at Collin College in Texas.

Jack Dixon picked up the first win of the week for the Titans as he won the first set 6-0 but Jacksonville College's Edoardo Brustia opened the second set with a win, but Dixon prevailed 6-4 in the second set to advance at the No. 2 singles.

"I had a little bit of a tough match, it was good, just getting adjusted to the court and the weather," Dixon said.

Dixon will play Iowa Central Community College's Amen Prince Gandonou in the second round. Gandonou edged Copiah-Lincoln's Arne Sohmer in three sets. Dixon and Gandonou will play at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The No. 1 doubles team of Dixon and Hugo Car took the court in the afternoon in a match that lasted less than an hour. The duo dominated the opener, defeating East Central Community College's Cade Cooley and Maddux Turner 6-0, 6-0.

Dixon and Car will play Itawamba Community College's Tasso Moreira and Joan Mateu Ramis Pascual at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.Moreira and Pascual won in three sets on Monday.

Car will play No. 1 singles against College of Lake County's Gavin Murrie who won 6-0, 6-0 in the first round at 8 a.m.

At No. 3 singles, Nick DeVivo is the No. 2 seed and will play Wallace State's Jose Munoz who came back after losing the first set and winning the second two sets to advance. DeVivo and Munoz will play at 9:15 a.m.

Tomas Quesada Perez is the No. 1 seed at No. 4 singles and will play Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College's Triston Hill who won 6-1, 6-1 in the first round.

At No. 5 singles, No. 3 seed Jett Leong will get things started on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. against Weatherford College's Marko Filipovic. Filipovic won his first-round match 6-0, 6-1.

No. 4 seed Alexandr Achour will open at No. 6 singles against Prairie State College's Carlos Armando Alcala at 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday. Alcala won his first-round match 6-1, 6-0.

The No. 2 doubles team of Nick DeVivo and Colin Tavares are the No. 1 seed and after a bye on Monday will play Iowa Central Community College's Derrick Namanya and Caleb Peterson on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Namanya and Peterson won the first round match, 6-3, 6-4.

The No. 3 doubles team of Alexandr Achour and Tomas Quesada Perez are the No. 2 seed and will open in the second round against Jacksonville College's Brock Dawson and Macarthur Swain. Dawson and Swain won their opener Monday, 6-3, 6-4.