Buerchner Wins Flight at Georgia Southern Invitational

Friday, September 19

Statesboro, Ga.

All Day

University of North Florida

Georgia Southern Invitational Day 1

9/13/2009 7:43:00 PM | Men's Tennis

STATESBORO, Ga. – Freshman men's tennis player Moritz Buerchner led the University of North Florida men's tennis team over the weekend by winning the Flight A singles at the Georgian Southern Invitational in Statesboro, Ga.

Buerchner had a bye in the first round, but defeated host team GSU's No. 4 singles player, Alain Garrido in the second round, 6-3, 6-0. In the semifinals, Buerchner dropped Kennesaw State's Gianni Kubin, 6-0, 6-2 before defeating Armstrong Atlantic's Mikk Irdoja in three sets (2-6, 6-4, 6-4) in the final round. Irdoja was ranked No. 25 last season in the Division II singles rankings, while AASU was the No. 1 Division II team in the country.

Gleb Maslau made it into the finals for the Ospreys in Flight B. Maslau defeated Ryan Boutell, Kennesaw State's No. 4 singles player, 6-1, 6-0 in the second round after having a bye in the first. In the semifinals, Maslau dropped GSU's No. 5 singles player, Edio Castanhel, 6-1, 6-2 before falling to Georgia Southern's newcomer Matthijs Verdam, 6-3, 6-4 in the final round.

"We are glad that Moritz and Gleb, our two newcomers, performed as well as they did," said UNF head men's tennis coach, Igal Buberman. "This event is a great way to start the year since it provides a lot of great feedback during the middle of preseason. We are now able to focus on more specific parts of our players' games and work to improve it. We are looking forward to the FSU Invitational where the level of play will be even more challenging."

Also competing for the Ospreys in Flight A was senior Kurt Gattiker who defeated Paul Fitzgerald of Armstrong Atlantic (No. 4 singles for AASU) in the first round, 7-5, 6-0. Gattiker fell to Kubin in the second round, 6-3, 7-5.