Trojans Fall to Nationally-Ranked Florida State Tuesday

Tuesday, January 18

Tallahassee, FL

2:00 p.m. (EST)

Troy University

(27) Florida State University

Trojans Fall to Nationally-Ranked Florida State Tuesday

1/18/2011 3:45:20 PM | Tennis (M)

The 62nd-ranked Trojans opened the season on the road against the 27th-ranked Seminoles

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The 62nd-ranked Troy University men's tennis team fell in their season-opening match to 27th-ranked Florida State University 7-0 Tuesday afternoon in non-conference action. It was the third meeting all-time between the two schools, with the first taking place in 1948.

The day started with doubles action as the Seminoles won two of the three matches, with the third and final match stopped as the point was decided.

The top team of senior Mario Rolemberg (Salvador Bahia, Brazil) and freshman Niklas Jonsson (Helsinborg, Sweden) fell to the number one team from Florida State, Conner Smith and Vahid Mirazdeh, 8-2. Meanwhile, at number three, Florida State was able to clinch the doubles point with an 8-0 victory as the team of Clint Bowles and Blake Davis defeated the Troy team of junior Branko Weber (Hamburg, Germany) and freshman Jamie Eccleton (Auckland, New Zealand).

Meanwhile, at number two, the Trojans team of Sami Ghorbel (Sfax, Tunisia) and sophomore sophomore Anas Rouchdi (Rabat, Morocco) fell to Florida State's Andres Bucaro and Anderson Reed, 8-4.

Following doubles play, Florida State (1-0) quickly took the first two singles matches of the day at number four and five. The Seminoles' Blake Davis defeated Troy's Jonsson 6-1, 6-0; the first match of Jonsson's collegiate career. That match was followed by the number five singles in which Rolemberg fell to Florida State's Anderson Reed 6-4, 6-0 after challenging the Seminole in the opening set.

The Trojans fell at number two, putting Florida State ahead by a score of 4-0 and just one point shy of clinching the match, when Connor Smith defeated Troy's Rouchdi 6-2, 6-2. The match was clinched for Florida State when 42nd-ranked Vahid Mirazdeh defeated Troy's Weber 6-2, 6-1 at number one singles.

After Florida State clinched the match with the win at number one, pair of Trojans were in the midst of battling out a second set. Sami Ghorbel battled throughout his second set against Florida State's Clint Bowles (ranked 37th in the country) before falling 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). Meanwhile, Jamie Eccelton was in the midst of a battle against Andres Bucaro at number six after losing the first set. The match finished with Bucaro coming back to win the second set and claim the match at 6-3, 7-5.

The Trojans return to action on January 28 against nationally-ranked North Carolina State University in the ITA Kick-Off Classic at the University of Florida.

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