March 13, 2009

Mirzadeh Clinches Match As 16th-Ranked Seminoles Hold Off No. 12 Pepperdine
The No. 16 Florida State men's tennis team lost a 3-0 lead to No. 12 Pepperdine, but pulled out a 4-3 victory on Thursday evening in Malibu, Calif., thanks to the heroics of junior Vahid Mirzadeh.

The match came down to court four where Mirzadeh was playing Pepperdine's Mahmoud Kamel. The pair split the first two sets 6-4, 4-6 and the Wellington, Fla., native went down 3-1 in the third. Mirzadeh was able to rally to win six out of the last eight games of the match to get his first three set victory of the season.

The Seminoles jumped out to a 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point. Seniors Drew Bailey and Maciek Sykut made quick work out of Hugh Clarke and Alex Llompart on court two with an 8-3 victory. FSU clinched the point on court three when sophomore Clint Bowles and freshman Chris Reiman defeated Kamel and Stuart Keplar 8-4. In the match on court one, junior Jean-Yves Aubone and Mirzadeh were defeated by No. 8 Omar Altmann and Bassam Beidas 8-5.

No. 17 Wake Forest Takes Two Wins in Marathon Doubleheader
The 17th-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team pulled out two wins during Thursday's spring break match-ups, taking down East Tennessee State 4-3 in a five hour battle and returning just one hour later to take down Coastal Carolina 6-1 in Myrtle Beach.

Wake Forest is now 9-4 in 2009 dual match play.

In the opening contest, Wake Forest took the doubles point over ETSU but the Bucs' No. 15 Enrique Olivares took down Cory Parr at the top of the singles lineup 6-4, 6-3 to even the match score at 1-1. The rest of the singles matches would require a third set.