Men’s Tennis Rallies to Defeat North Florida and Advance to ASUN Title Match

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU males’s tennis workforce didn’t make it straightforward, however ultimately, the top-seeded Eagles picked up a dramatic 4-3 win over #4 North Florida, Saturday afternoon within the ASUN Tournament Semifinals. Overall, the Eagles now sit at 15-6 on the season and will advance to tomorrow’s championship match in opposition to #3 Liberty.

“I am REALLY proud of my guys tonight,” stated head coach CJ weber. “We really showed our character when our backs were against the wall! I felt like UNF put a lot of pressure on us, and if the guys weren’t ready to respond, we would have lost today! We also had an INCREDIBLE crowd out there! I was so happy for our fans, because that was really something to witness.”

“So now we live to fight another day against a very tough Liberty squad,” continued Weber. “This has been an incredibly fun and competitive ASUN season, and I expect tomorrow’s match to be the culmination of some intense play. You have to come out to the FGCU Tennis Complex tomorrow at 1 pm. There won’t be anything more entertaining in all of southwest Florida tomorrow, I can promise that!”

The Eagles obtained off to a quick begin as they took the doubles level. Junior Max Damm (Bradenton, Fla./Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School) and redshirt-sophomore Magnus Johnson (Naples, Fla./Homeschool/UCF) received their match, 6-4, on courtroom one earlier than sophomore Eric Oncins (Orlando, Fla./Montverde Academy) and redshirt-sophomore Randy Wilson (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Miami Palmetto/Louisville) clinched the purpose with a 6-3 victory on courtroom three.

The momentum turned towards the Ospreys in singles as they received in straight units on courts two, 5, and six to take a 3-1 lead. The comeback began for the Eagles on courtroom one as ASUN Player of the Year Johnson received 6-3, 6-4.

On courtroom 4, graduate scholar Juan Montes (Pereira, Colombia/Colegio Lujan) took the primary set 6-4 in opposition to #69 Dominik Barton, however dropped the second, 6-0. Montes turned the tides within the third set as he dominated and received 6-1 to tie up the general match at three.

The match got here down redshirt-sophomore Marcelo Sepulveda (Monterrey, Mexico/Penn Foster/Alabama) on courtroom three. Sepulveda, an ASUN Second-Team choice, additionally received his first set earlier than dropping the second set. In the third set, he fell behind 3-1, however rallied to win the ultimate 5 video games of the set to win 6-3 and clinch FGCU’s spot in tomorrow’s championship match.

Tomorrow’s match is ready to start at 1 p.m. on the FGCU Tennis Complex. The Eagles will tackle three-seed Liberty, who defeated #2 Kennesaw State, 4-0, on Saturday. Earlier this season, the Eagles defeated the Flames, 4-3, having had to come again from an 3-0 deficit.

#71 FGCU 4, #70 UNF 3

Singles Action

1.    JOHNSON, Magnus (FGCUM) def. Jonas Hartenstein (UNF) 6-3, 6-4

2.    Nilo Duarte (UNF) def. WILSON, Randy (FGCUM) 6-2, 6-1

3.    SEPULVEDA, Marcelo (FGCUM) def. Matt Carroll (UNF) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3

4.    MONTES, Juan (FGCUM) def. #69 Dominik Barton (UNF) 6-4, 0-6, 6-1

5.    PJ Kotan (UNF) def. STEFANACCI, Gugli (FGCUM) 7-6 (7-4), 6-0

6.    Rodrigo Crespo (UNF) def. LOPEZ, Juan (FGCUM) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles Action

1.    JOHNSON, Magnus/DAMM, Max (FGCUM) def. Jonas Hartenstein/Jorge Nunez (UNF) 6-4

2.    SEPULVEDA, Marcelo/MONTES, Juan (FGCUM) vs. Nilo Duarte/Rodrigo Crespo (UNF) 4-5, unfinished

3.    ONCINS, Eric/WILSON, Randy (FGCUM) def. Matt Carroll/Dominik Barton (UNF) 6-3

Order of end: Doubles (1,3); Singles (2,6,5,1,4,3)

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CJ WEBER

FGCU is led by three-time ASUN Coach of the Year CJ Weber, who has coached 32 ASUN All-Conference choices since becoming a member of the Green and Blue in 2011. In his seventh yr, Weber has compiled a 118-93 (.583) total report and a 50-20 (.721) report in ASUN play. In 2014-15, Weber guided the Eagles to their first-ever ASUN Championship and first-ever ASUN Regular Season title after a program-best 17 wins. In his third season, Weber led Jordi Vives to a No. 35 nationwide rating, a nation-leading 14-match unbeaten streak and the spherical of 32 within the 2014 NCAA Tournament – this system’s first look. The Eagles accomplished an ideal ASUN common season in each 2015 and 2016, ending with convention titles in addition to a Coach of the Year honor for Weber. FGCU once more received the 2017 ASUN Championship and made its second NCAA look. The Eagles returned to the mountaintop by claiming the 2019 common season and event championships. Weber earned his third ASUN Coach of the Year honor and led the Green and Blue to their third journey to the NCAA Tournament. 

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ABOUT FGCU

FGCU groups have mixed to win an unbelievable 91 convention common season and event titles in simply 14+ seasons on the Division I stage. Additionally, in simply 10 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a mixed 43 groups or people compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU applications have earned a top-25 nationwide rating of their respective sport – together with girls’s basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), seashore volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and each males’s soccer (2018, 2019) and girls’s soccer (2018) as three of the latest. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place end within the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and top-100 displaying nationally, forward of a number of Power-5 and FBS establishments. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida finest seven groups earn the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award for his or her Academic Progress Rate of their sport. FGCU additionally collectively earned a report 3.50 GPA within the classroom within the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the overall University undergraduate inhabitants for 25 consecutive semesters. The previous 5 semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021) every noticed one other milestone reached as all 15 applications achieved a 3.0-or-higher workforce GPA in every. The Eagles additionally served an all-time excessive 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being acknowledged as one in every of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award introduced by the Fiesta Bowl.