Ospreys Celebrate Home Opener By Downing Mercer, 6-1

Friday, February 8

Jacksonville, Fla.

5:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

Mercer

Action shot of Dominik Barton hitting a forehand.

Barton won convincingly in singles, 6-0, 6-4

2/8/2019 9:04:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Pivotal Doubles Match Propels Ospreys Friday

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Ospreys carried the excitement of a doubles-clinching tiebreaker win to eventually secure a 6-1 victory against Mercer (3-5) in men's tennis' first official match at the UNF Tennis Complex since winning the ASUN Championship last April.

Federico Nani and Jorge Nunez were strong at number-three doubles, winning 6-3 to give UNF (3-3) the advantage. Mercer's Olivier Stuart and Nicolas Guillon outlasted the new duo of Nilo Duarte and Till Von Winning, making the first point dependent on number two doubles. With all eyes on Dominik Barton and Sahil Deshmukh, the tandem dug deep to earn a climactic 7-6 (8-6) point.

Stuart avenged the doubles outcome to earn Mercer's lone point, a 6-2, 6-2 win at the top spot of singles. The men looked impressive the rest of the night, sweeping two-through-six singles, needing three sets just once as Jorge Nunez rallied from a 4-6 second-set loss to turn the tables in the third.

"It was a good team win, I knew it was going to be tough. Obviously, playing for Eric [Hayes] I knew how competitive and feisty his teams are going to be. I thought that doubles was very important because we were down to a couple of match points and we were able to sneak the tiebreaker out, giving us a little bit of a momentum shift. We had two brand new teams today and it was good, both of those teams won. We started really strong on a bunch of courts, and I made sure that the guys focused on the first 30 minutes of singles to make sure that they [Mercer] wouldn't get back into the match." -- Head coach Matt Lucas

Notes:

UNF improves to 9-0 all-time against the Bears in a series that dates back to 2006.
The Ospreys have not lost a home opener since turning to Division I.
Mercer head coach Eric Hayes was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year last season. He coached Matt Lucas while at NC State in 2002.
Dominik Barton and Sahil Deshmukh along with Federico Nani and Jorge Nunez played their first doubles matches together Friday. They had success doing so, going 2-0
Barton improves to 4-1 at number-three singles.

UNF 6 , Mercer 1
Feb. 8, 2019 | UNF Tennis Complex | Jacksonville, Fla.

Singles
1. Olivier Stuart (MER-M) def. Till Von Winning (UNF) 6-2, 6-2
2. Sahil Deshmukh (UNF) def. Nicolas Guillon (MER-M) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1
3. Dominik Barton (UNF) def. Fernando Guardia (MER-M) 6-0, 6-4
4. Jorge Nunez (UNF) def. David Georgadze (MER-M) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
5. Nilo Duarte (UNF) def. Stathis Tsiranids (MER-M) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
6. Federico Nani (UNF) def. Carver Arant (MER-M) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles
1. Stuart/Guillon (MER) def. Duarte/Von Winning (UNF) 6-4
2. Deshmukh/Barton (UNF) def. Georgadze/Tsiranidis (MER) 7-6 (8-6)
3. Nani/Nunez (UNF) def. Arant/Salekar (MER) 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (3, 1, 2); Singles (1, 3, 2, 6, 5, 4)
Time: 2:40
Attendance: 88

Up Next:
The Ospreys finish the weekend hosting Buffalo at noon Sunday, February 10.

"I'm excited for Sunday, it will be a good match," head coach Matt Lucas said. "You know, Buffalo is a great team and I'm very familiar with them and their players and coaches, and we will have to compete and play well."