Jan. 14, 2008

No. 18 Florida State Tennis Opens Season With Two Victories

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida State men's tennis team began its season in dominating fashion by sweeping Florida Atlantic and Mercer on Saturday at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.

The Seminoles began the day by beating the Owls 7-0. Florida State took an early 1-0 lead by winning all three doubles matches including a victory by No.31 ranked doubles team of sophomore Jean-Yves Aubone (Miami, Fla.) and freshman Clint Bowles (Tampa, Fla.) who defeated FAU's Marc Abdelnour and Joe Cadogan 8-4. FSU went on to win the first to singles matches easily to take a 3-0 advantage. The 77th ranked Bowles dispatched of Karl Szmurlo 6-1, 6-1, while sophomore Brad Mixson (Miami, Fla.) handled Darmel Vardag 6-2, 6-1. However, the Seminoles wasted numerous chances to clinch the match until junior Chris Cloer (Brevard, N.C.) finally clinched the match with his win over Corey Smith 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. The best match of the day came when Aubone defeated No. 56 Olivier Saujous in three sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. A good start to the season for the 18th ranked team in the country.

"I think we accomplished what we wanted to today," said head coach Dwayne Hultquist. "I knew FAU was a good team and I wouldn't be surprised if they make the NCAA Tournament. It was a good tough match." In Florida State's afternoon match, the team easily took care of Mercer 7-0. In doubles action, Aubone and Bowles took care of the Bears best duo Tobias Ohrstrom and Chapman Mitchell 8-3. In singles, Bowles defeated Ohrstrom 6-2, 6-0 and Cloer once again clinched the match, this time with a victory over Fernando Armendaris 6-2, 6-1.

"In the afternoon matches I thought our guys seemed relaxed and I thought our level of play was higher in the afternoon," said Hultquist. "We've got a lot of depth and we were able to play a couple of extra guys against Mercer."

Florida State will be back on the court next week, just not on the mainland. The Seminoles will travel to Hawaii to take on St. Mary's and Hawaii. For results, visit www.seminoles.com.

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