Florida State University Team Page

ATLANTA, Ga. - The No. 28 Florida State men's tennis team (13-3, 1-0) won its fourth straight match of the season Friday, March 15, as the Seminoles opened conference play against No. 63 Georgia Tech (7-7, 0-1). The Seminoles started strong winning the doubles point as they went on to win 4-3 at the Ken Byers Tennis Center.

"Winning a match on the road in the ACC is always difficult," said head coach Dwayne Hultquist. "We're pleased to get a win today after such a high ranked win over Oklahoma. The doubles point was huge. Benjamin (Lock) and Andres (Bucaro) were down a break in the middle of the set. They fought back after some terrible match points but they finally converted to win 9-7."

Junior Blake Davis and sophomore Dominic Cotrone came out strong and put the Seminoles up early with an 8-0 shutout on court three. After losing on court two, the doubles point came down to senior Andres Bucaro and sophomore Benjamin Lock on court one. Florida State battled back and forth with Georgia Tech, but came out on top with a 9-7 win. With today's win, Bucaro has the 10th most career doubles wins at Florida State with 74.

"It was a very close match," said Bucaro. "They are a good team, but it was great to clinch the doubles point. It was very good to have momentum moving into singles and gave us an edge. It's an honor to be in the top ten, but I've always played next to a teammate with those wins."

In singles play, freshman Michael Rinaldi continued his strong play as he won his 13th straight match of the year. After defeating Colin Edwards 6-1, 6-0 on court six, he increased his spring record to 11-0. Senior Anderson Reed went on to finish his match quickly after with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Anish Sharma on court five.

"Michael and I getting off the court fast today helped the team a lot," said Reed. "We knew there were some tough matches going on with the other courts so it was important we gave the team some confidence."

Senior Jordan Kelly-Houston clinched the second match in a row with a 6-4, 7-5 win on court three over Eduardo Segura.

"We knew coming in this would be a tough match especially being out first ACC match," said Kelly-Houston. "It was very important for Benjamin and Andres to get that doubles point to set up the team for the win."

The Seminoles finish out Spring Break in Tallahassee with a noon match against Clemson on Sunday. For more information, check back to Seminoles.com. You can also follow the team at Twitter.com/FSU_MTennis.

Results

No. 28 Florida State 4, No. 63 Georgia Tech 3

Doubles

1. Benjamin Lock/Andres Bucaro (FS) def. Juan Melian/Nathan Rakitt (GT) 9-7

2. Juan Spir/Eduardo Segura (GT) def. Anderson Reed/Jordan Kelly-Houston (FS) 8-2

3. Blake Davis/Dominic Cotrone (FS) def. Colin Edwards/Garrett Gordon (GT) 8-0

Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles

1. Juan Melian (GT) def. #89 Dominic Cotrone (FS) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)

2. #53 Juan Spir (GT) def. Benjamin Lock (FS) 6-2, 6-1

3. Jordan Kelly-Houston (FS) def. Eduardo Segura (GT) 6-4, 7-5

4. Nathan Rakitt (GT) def. Blake Davis (FS) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2

5. Anderson Reed (FS) def. Anish Sharma (GT) 6-1, 6-2

6. Michael Rinaldi (FS) def. Colin Edwards (GT) 6-1, 6-0

Order of finish: 2,6,5,3*,4,1