Florida Atlantic University rounded out its three-match road swing at the University of Miami, ranked no. 17 nationally, Thursday night with UM taking the hard fought match 4-3 before a vocal and rowdy crowd.
“This was an amazing environment for our team to play in. Miami did a good job promoting and getting fans out to their home opener and our guys did their best to make it a memorable match for our team and fans as well,” said Brandon Stokes, FAU’s head coach. “The doubles was not pretty but it was effective. Miami is well coached and talented—two potent combinations. They responded with confidence in the singles play and took the momentum away from us. But we have been resilient and determined this season in singles and it showed once again. We came up a bit short this time but we continue to improve and make the other teams beat us. I am proud of the effort and the way we represent FAU. We will use this as motivation in our preparation.”
FAU held a 2-1 record heading into the match and was well prepared to do what they could to upset UM in its season opener.
The Owls earned the doubles point with victories at no. 1 and no. 3. The duo of Eddie Majcher and Marc Abdelnour defeated UM’s Keith Crowley and David Rosenfeld 9-7 while on court three Lawrence Harradine and Santiago Nieto defeated UM’s Ignacio Taboada and Carl Sundberg with the same score.
With both no. 2 and 3 doubles decided all eyes shifted to the battle on court one. Majcher and Abdelnour traded breaks and holds early with the Hurricanes into the 12th game. FAU broke serve with by using strong fundamentals to earn the opportunity to serve out the match and claim the first doubles point of FAU’s young season. UM fought off two match points with quick exchanges to put the match back on serve. The home crowd was felt during the change over and through every point. Not to be outdone, the traveling Owl fans matched the excitement with support buoying the outs to a break and match point in the 14th game. UM held serve to put the match at 8-7 with Miami serving to force a tiebreak. Majcher’s aggressive returns and relying on fundamentals the duo closed out the match to take the doubles point before more than 100 surprised fans.
Those 100 plus needed blankets as the singles play began as the temperatures tell below 60 with a night chill. The Hurricanes felt no chill as they returned to the courts, like most well coached and talented teams, with a fire only realized after dropping the doubles point.
UM then took to the singles courts to grab three points with straight set victories and a 3-1 lead. Eddie Majcher, at no. 5, fought but lost 6-3, 6-1. Joshua Scholl battled Carl Sundberg, ranked no. 96 nationally, but also fell 6-1, 7-5 at no. 4 singles. Then Daniel Vardag dropped a roller coaster of a match at no. 2, 6-2, 7-6 (4). With three matches left to play, the Owls battled back with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 singles victory by Santiago Neito at no. 6 to make the overall match score 3-2. Two singles matches continued with the crowd reacting to every point, knowing each mattered in the final outcome.
A Davis Cup type feeling could be felt on the front three Neil Schiff Stadium courts with cheering and heckling creating a drama with each point. Court one matched the intensity of no. 1 doubles. Abdelnour was locked in with UM’s Christian Bloecker, who was suffering from cramps. Abdelnour secured the early break to go up 1-0 and spent Bloecker’s medical timeouts by cheering for teammate Lawrence Harradine who was locked into a fierce match of his own on court three. As play resumed for Abdelnour he seized the opportunity and took both control and the match at 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
The match tied at three would now come down to court three. Harradine battled Ignacio Taboada and his pounding forehand. Strong competitive wills were on display as the two exchanged breaks in the decisive third set until Taboada prevailed with a service break and his best service game of the set to clinch the dual match for Miami at 4-3.
“Thank you to all the FAU fans that made the drive down I-95 to root us on. You are part of this program and the team loves the enthusiasm,” Stokes add. “Thank you.”
