SMU Tennis Defeats Florida Gulf Coast

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FORT MYERS, Fla. (SMU) – The SMU Mustangs picked up their second win of the season in come-from-behind fashion as they defeated Florida Gulf Coast, 4-3, on Friday evening. With the win, SMU improves to 2-2 in 2014.

Junior Arturs Kazijevs fell down in his first set at No. 2 singles against Tianyu Bao in a tiebreaker. The Latvia native was able to win the next two sets 6-3 and 6-4 to clinch the victory for SMU in what was the last match to finish.

The Eagles took the opening doubles point, winning at both the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. SMU’s Tony Russell and Arkidjas Slobodkins fought hard in the No. 3 doubles, with their match ultimately ending unfinished.

“It was a great comeback win by Arthur (Kazijevs) to clinch the match after losing the doubles. We need our seniors to come through and when that happens we will be a formidable team. The team is only as good as our seniors, and this year is no different. The freshmen (Julio) Olaya, Slobodkins and Russell stepped up and gave us a big boost today.”

Nate Lammons won a three-set match against Gabriel Echeverry in the No. 4 singles position, while Slobodkins improved to 3-1 with a victory over Lucas Vaz in straight sets in the fifth spot. Olaya also won in straight sets at No. 6, defeating Adrian Reid 6-2, 6-4.

FGCU junior Jordi Vives, who is ranked 66th in the nation, defeated Alex Sanders in No. 1 singles 6-2, 6-5 (7-4), extending his nation-leading win streak to 12 straight matches.

SMU has now defeated FGCU three straight seasons, winning by a score of 6-1 in both 2012 and 2013.

The Mustangs will return home for their first match in Dallas in 2014 on Jan. 31 against UTSA at 2 p.m. CST.