Men's tennis team fares well at ITA Regionals

The Eastern Florida State College men's tennis doubles team lost in the final of the ITA JUCO Men's Southeast Regional Championships in Albertville, Alabama

Freshmen Filip Sormaz and Salva Mulet lost a tight match in three sets for Wallace State Community College's Zachary Riley and Alexander Edley Sunday.

Sormaz and Mulet got off to a strong start, winning the first set 6-3 but the Wallace State duo came back to tie things 7-6(7-1). The third set was close with the Titans pair falling 7-5.

Sormaz and Mulet cruised into the final, defeating Coastal Alabama's Seth Davis and Ryan Roberson 8-2 to start the tourney. Then in the quarterfinals the duo beat Wallace State's Brett Foster and Diego Castellanos 8-2 to advance to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Sormaz and Mulet beat No. 4 seed Gian Rojas Rodriguez and Andre Dogbefu of USC-Sumter 8-2 to reach the final against Riley and Edley.

In singles matches, No. 1 seed Alberto Perez Mellado reached the semifinals of the tournament, defeating Bevill State's Carson Wood and USC Sumter's Aki Harada to reach the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, Perez met teammate and No. 8 seed Konstantin Kukaras. Perez picked up the win, 6-2, 6-3.

Perez would then face No. 4 seed Alexander Edley in the semifinals and it went to a tiebreaker with Perez taking the first set 6-3 but lost 7-6(7-5) in the second to force a tiebreaker which Edley won 10-5.

Kukaras defeated Marion Military's Bryce Manalo 6-0, 6-0 and USC Sumter's Andre Dogbefu 6-3, 7-6(7-1) to get to the quarterfinal match with Perez.

Sormaz defeated Casellanos in singles 6-2, 6-3 but then lost in the round of 16.

No. 7 seed Pablo Garcia Rodriguez opened with a win over Coastal Alabama's Enzo Loots 6-3, 7-5 and then defeated Coastal Alabama's Lucas Van Splunteren to reach the quarterfinals. Garcia lost to Edley in the aurterfinals, 7-6(7-5) and 6-2.

No. 6 Mulet opened against Wallace State's Jean Badenhorst, picking up the win 6-1, 6-2 and then beat Wallace State's Zachary Riley 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals. Mulet topped teammate and No. 2 seed Tomas Kurz in the quarterfinals 7-5, 7-5 to advance to the semifinals, where Mulet was forced to retire.

Kurz defeated Wallace State's William Johnson 6-1, 6-1, then defeated USC Sumter's Stanley Long 6-1, 6-3 to get to the quarterfinals.

The other two Titans doubles teams lost in the round of 16. The duo of Garcia and Perez lost in the round of 16 in a tight match against Foster and Castellanos, falling 9-8(7-5). The team of Tomas Kurz and Konstantin Kukaras lost 8-6 to USC Sumter's Stanley Long and Jakub Sevcik.