Troy University Athletics
Friday, May 8
Athens, Ga.
10:00 a.m.
Troy University
vs
Florida State
Players Mentioned
/ Tennis (M)
/ Tennis (M)
/ Tennis (M)
/ Tennis (M)
/ Tennis (M)
/ Tennis (M)
Photo by: Derick Hingle
Troy Men’s Tennis Set for Florida State and NCAA First Round Match
5/7/2015 10:05:00 AM | Tennis (M)
ATHENS, Georgia - The Troy men's tennis team will make its second NCAA Championships appearance in program history on Friday when the Trojans play a first round match against Florida State at the Dan Migall Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
Troy, ranked 57th in the nation, and Florida State, ranked 27th, will begin their match at 10 a.m. CT. The winner will advance to the second round to take on the winner of Georgia, the No. 8 national seed, and Winthrop. The winner of the second round match will advance to the Round of 16, which will be played on Thursday, May 14, in Waco, Texas.
Links to live stats and live video for Friday and Saturday's matches can be found on the men's tennis schedule page at TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also follow Troy Athletics on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat for complete coverage.
Troy (25-6), the Sun Belt Conference champion, has not played in 18 days since beating rival South Alabama to win the conference title on April 19. That win was Troy's fifth straight and its 15th in its last 16 matches.
The Trojans enter the NCAA Championships tied for first in the nation with 25 wins. Troy joins Illinois and Ohio State as the only teams in the nation with 25 wins entering the tournament. Troy's 17-win improvement over last season's eight wins is also tops in the nation, five wins better than second place Wagner, who improved by 12 wins this season but did not make the NCAA field.
Troy is led by five All-Sun Belt selections, including two first-team honorees, and the Sun Belt Coach of the Year in Scott Kidd. Kidd is making his fourth NCAA Championships appearance in the last five seasons after going to three straight women's tournaments as an assistant coach at Clemson from 2011-2013.
First team All-Sun Belt selections Gabriel Dias and Hassan Ndayishimye have won eight and five straight matches, respectively, and have posted 15-5 and 22-5 singles records, respectively, on courts No. 1 and No. 2. At the bottom of the Troy lineup, Pablo Moreno and Giovani Samaha are 16-5 and 18-3 in singles action this season. Moreno has won four straight matches at No. 5 singles while Samaha has won 11 straight at No. 6.
In doubles action, Troy's three probable doubles teams are a combined 17-2 this season, including Samaha and Moreno who are 7-2 at No. 1 doubles. Dias and Andy Lau are 7-0 at No.2 while Ndayishimye and Andre Baldo are 3-0 at No. 3.
Florida State (19-10) finished the season with a 6-6 record in the ultra-competitive ACC. Seven of the Seminoles' ten losses came against teams that ended up with Top 16 national seeds in the NCAA field.
The Seminoles are led by by No. 46 Benjamin Lock and No. 101 Michael Rinaldi in singles, while Lock and Marco Nunez are the 16th-ranked doubles pair in the country.
Troy and Florida State played earlier this season, with the Seminoles winning, 4-0. The match was played in Tallahassee back on January 17 when the Trojans were playing their third match in 24 hours. The Trojans also played without Moreno and Samaha in that match.
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