Men's tennis team tied for first after two days at national tournament

The Eastern Florida State College men's tennis team had a perfect day at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament at Collin College in Texas.

The Titans won all six singles matches and then won all three doubles matches in the afternoon and are now tied for first overall with host Collin College, Cowley and Tyler Junior College.

The day began with the No. 1 and No. 2 singles players taking the court.

No. 1 singles player Hugo Car picked up an easy 6-1, 6-0 win against College of Lake County's Gavin Murrie. Car won 10 straight points after the match began 2-1 and will head to the quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed at No. 1 singles. Car will face Pratt Community College's Alexi Khamrotau who upset the No. 8 seed in three sets on Tuesday. The match will be at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

Jack Dixon was also on the court first at No. 2 singles and had a highly contested match with Iowa Central's Amen Prince Gandonou that saw some big shots and long rallies.

The sophomore went down 2-0 to start the match, but broke Gandonou and then held serve to tie the match. Tied 3-3, Dixon hit a nice shot down the line and went on to break Gandonou to take a 4-3 lead. He once again held serve to take a 5-3 lead and went on to win the first set 6-4. Gandonou found his shot in the second set, winning the second set 6-1 to tie the match and send it to a third set.

Once again Dixon went behind 0-2 before rallying back to tie things 2-2. The match would be tight for a while but Dixon would get the break to lead 4-2 and hold serve to take the 5-2 lead. He would win 6-3 on a long rally to advance to the quarterfinals. Dixon will play No. 5 seed Sebastian De Las Salas of Seward County Community College at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Nick DeVivo won in straight sets at No. 3 singles using his big serve to win 6-3, 6-1 against Wallace State's Jose Munoz. DeVivo, the No. 2 seed, will play No. 7 seed Emmanual Jebutu of Weatherford College in the quarterfinals. Jebutu lost the first set but won the second and was up 3-0 when his opponent retired. DeVivo will also play at 8 a.m.

Tomas Quesada Perez, the No. 1 seed at No. 4 singles, also won in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals. Perez defeated Mississippi Gulf Coast CC's Triston Hill 6-1, 6-1 on Monday. Perez will play No. 8 Antoine Schaub from ABAC at 9:30 a.m.

At No. 5 singles, Jett Leong defeated Weatherford College's Marko Filipovic 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. Leong opened with a break and led 2-0 before Filipovic scored a point. Leong won the final four points in the first set and went on to win the second set as well. Leong will play Pratt Community College's Sixto Golobart who is the No. 6 seed. Golobart won 6-1, 7-6(4) to advance to the quarterfinals and will play Leong at 9:30 a.m.

At No. 6 singles, Alexandr Achour came out hot, winning the first set 6-0 before going down 1-0 to start the second set. But Achour would score the next six points to pick up the win against Prairie State's Carlos Armando Alcala. Achour will play Barton Community College's Oliver Naude in the quarterfinals at 9:30 a.m.

The doubles teams took center stage in the afternoon and a couple of big performances helped the Titans sweep the afternoon.

The No. 1 doubles team of Car and Dixon got off to a slow start, trailing 4-1 and then 5-2 before battling back. The duo would win the next five points in a row to steal the first set 7-5.

From there they were not to be denied as they would get the break to lead 3-2 and then up 4-3, Car and Dixon both made some incredible shots at the net to secure the win to go up 5-3. Car would serve it out for the 6-4 win.

Car and Dixon will play No. 5 seed Samuel Antwi and Cem Atlamis of Seward County Community College at 2 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

At No. 2 doubles, the team of DeVivo and Colin Tavares had a tight first set with Iowa Central's Derrick Namanya and Caleb Peterson. Up 5-3, Iowa Central came back to tie it 5-5 and eventually force a tiebreaker. The Titans trailed 4-2 in the tiebreaker but once again fought back, scoring the next five points to win the tiebreaker 7-4 and win the first set. Tied 2-2, the duo closed out the match with the final four points to clinch the win.

DeVivo and Tavares will play ABAC's Antonin Leborne and Zachary Riley in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m.

Achour and Perez teamed up at No. 3 doubles and defeated Jacksonville College's Brock Dawson and Macarthur Swain 6-2, 6-3. The duo, who is the No. 2 seed, will face Seward County Community College's Sebastian De Las Salas and Ognjen Gajic in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m.