JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida men's tennis (2-7) suffered its first home loss (2-1) of the season to Belmont, 4-3, on Wednesday afternoon at UNF Tennis Complex.

UNF managed to pick up another doubles point in Wednesday's match, but was not able to seal the deal in singles. The Ospreys have won the doubles point in seven of their nine matches this season.

We got started in doubles play with the ones spot the pairing of Rodrigo Crespo and Jonas Hartenstein holding it down, as they have all season, as they won their match, 6-2. In the third pairing, Breno Marques and Andreas Scott continued their good start to the season as a duo. The pair had quickly fallen behind into a 3-1 deficit in doubles play before storming back to win their match, 6-3, and thus the doubles point for the Ospreys.

North Florida got good play from the bottom of their lineup in singles play, as Scott and Marques won their singles match in two sets from the five and six spots, respectively. Marques' victory did not come as easy as it seemed though, starting his match going down, 3-0, in the first set. He did not let his opponent gain any more ground, as he came back to win, 6-3, in the first set. Marques then followed it up by cruising to a 6-1 win in the second set. 

As we progressed through singles play, the matches started to tighten up on the rest of the courts. Three of the six singles matches using three sets to decide a winner and the two top courts needing tiebreaks in their match to decide the sets.

The tightest match of the day was by Hartenstein's by far, with his match using all three sets with tiebreaks needed on the second and third sets. Hartenstein's match was a back-and-forth battle that saw the Ospreys' senior crawl out of 0-3 deficit to then take a lead, 6-5, in the second set before a lightning delay occurred.

After play resumed, Hartenstein went on to win his second set, 7-6 and 7-4, after tiebreak to force a third set that would ultimately decide the match for the Ospreys. After a tight third set that required another tiebreak, it unfortunately did not fall UNF's way.

The Ospreys get to stay at home and play South Alabama on Thursday, Mar. 6, starting at 2 p.m., at UNF Tennis Complex.

SINGLES

1. Alfred Wallin (BELM) def. Jonas Hartenstein (UNF) 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5)
2. Tomas Luis (BELM) def. Rodrigo Crespo (UNF) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2
3. Ian Cruz (BELM) def. PJ Kotan (UNF) 6-2, 6-1
4. Niklas von Hellens (BELM) def. Juan Pablo Cenoz (UNF) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
5. Andreas Scott  (UNF) def. Gabriel Sardo (BELM) 6-4, 6-4
6. Breno Marques (UNF) def. Ruben Busch (BELM) 6-3, 6-1 

DOUBLES

1. Jonas Hartenstein/Rodrigo Crespo (UNF) def. Ruben Busch/Niklas von Hellens (BELM) 6-2
2. PJ Kotan/Juan Pablo Cenoz (UNF) vs. Tomas Luis/Ian Cruz (BELM) 3-4, unfinished
3. Andreas Scott/Breno Marques (UNF) def. Alfred Wallin/Diego Castro (BELM) 6-3

MATCH NOTES

• UNF (2-7), BELM (3-6)
• Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (3,6,5,2,4,1)

OSPREY NOTES

• Scott won his second straight singles match Wednesday afternoon.
• Crespo and Hartenstein move to 6-1 in doubles together on the season and have won six straight doubles matches together.
• The Ospreys have won 71% of their doubles matches this season, which is on pace to be the highest mark in the Matt Lucas era as UNF's coach.
• In addition, the team has an 89% winning percentage from the top flight in doubles so far this season.
• Marques and Scott move to 6-2 on the season when playing together in doubles.