SPARTANBURG, S.C. - North Florida men's tennis earned the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Sun Championship and faces off with Kennesaw State on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex.
The Ospreys have made it to the A-Sun Championship Final in each of the past four seasons and are searching for their first tournament title. Despite early season injuries, junior and A-Sun Player of the Year
Jack Findel-Hawkins finished the season strong, boasting an 8-5 singles record on the year all at the No. 1 spot. Sophomore
Lasse Muscheites emerged as a star for UNF, finishing the year undefeated at the No. 2 slot at 9-0 and earning unanimous All-Conference first team honors. Muscheites paired with
Zach Goldberg on the doubles court, owning a record of 9-3 on the season. All-Freshman Team pick
Sahil Deshmukh finished 5-1 against A-Sun opponents this season.
Kennesaw State advanced to the semifinals with a down-to-the-wire finish against No. 3 Stetson. The sixth-seeded Owls claimed the doubles point which ended up being the deciding factor after splitting singles action. Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year Simon Pritchard is tied for the team lead in singles wins this season with 10. Drew Wendel also boasts 10. Pritchard finished 4-2 against A-Sun Singles opponents, all at the number one spot. Sam Slade made the Second Team All-Conference compiling a 4-1 record against A-Sun Teams at the No. 6 spot. Manuel Castellanos and Pritchard dominated on the doubles court, boasting a 10-0 record and a perfect 6-0 mark vs. A-Sun teams.
When the teams met in Jacksonville, the Ospreys grabbed the doubles point with wins in the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. UNF then took the singles matches at No. 2-No. 5 courts. Findel-Hawkins dropped his match against Pritchard after missing previous matches with injuries.
With a victory, UNF takes on the winner of the FGCU and USC Upstate match. The Ospreys two losses in conference were to those teams and a win would make it the fifth straight championship match for the Ospreys.
Check @OspreyMTen for updates on schedule changes and live stat information.
