North Florida Men’s Tennis secured a 4-3 comeback victory against UNC Wilmington at the UNF Tennis Complex on Friday afternoon. The Ospreys, who now hold a 4-0 record at home this season, overcame an early deficit to clinch the win.
The doubles matches began with North Florida’s Breno Marques and Andreas Scott winning 7-5 on court one. However, UNC Wilmington responded by winning on court three and then taking a tiebreaker on court two, earning the doubles point and an initial 1-0 lead.
In singles play, freshman Aron Major delivered a strong performance with a 6-2, 6-1 win on court six. This victory improved Major’s singles record to 4-0 for the season.
UNC Wilmington extended their advantage by claiming wins on courts one and three, pushing their lead to 3-1. North Florida narrowed the gap when freshman Kyle Piqueras won his match on court four with scores of 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Sophomore Youssef Labbene tied the overall match after battling through a tight contest to win in three sets: “Youssef Labbene (UNF) def. Jordi Domenech (UNCW) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3)” as listed in the official results.
The deciding point came from sophomore Joao Portugal on court five. After losing his first set in a tiebreaker, Portugal rallied to win the next two sets and secure victory for North Florida: “Joao Portugal (UNF) def. Brady Hussey (UNCW) 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4*”. With this result, Portugal now leads the team with a singles record of seven wins and one loss this season.
North Florida will host South Carolina State at UNF Tennis Complex on Sunday, February 22 at 1 p.m.
