HIALEAH, Fla. (Feb. 28, 2024) - Florida National University's men's tennis team (1-7) claimed an early Sun Conference loss to the RV Ave Maria University Gyrenes (2-4) at Goodlet Park on Feb. 28. Florida National started the match well with a 1-0 lead after two doubles victories, before failing to conquer the match in singles. They entered Wednesday's match fresh off a 5-2 win over the NCAA DII Palm Beach Atlantic University Sailfish on Feb. 13.

The doubles portion of the contest saw FNU duo Guido Gentile and Alejandro Suarez score a 6-3 victory over AMU's Pedro Garcia and Juan Garcia. David Santamaria and Sebastian Fujita outlasted Nolan Smith and Joao Felipe Almeida by the same score to secure FNU's 1-0 lead. AMU pair Anderson Duggan and Gaston Erhardt did claim an impressive 6-1 victory opposite Luis Figueroa and Bryan Cajamarca.

In singles play, FNU cooled off significantly, with losses from Ignacio Acosta and Gentile by 6-0, 6-0, and 6-3, 6-3, respectively. Stefanacci fell in his match to Duggan 6-0, 6-3 before AMU secured the win with a 6-2, 6-7, 10-8 victory by Smith versus Fujita. 

Doubles Competition:

Number one: 

Luis Figueroa / Bryan Cajamarca lost to Anderson Duggan / Gaston Erhardt (1-6)

Number two:

Guido Gentile / Alejandro Suarez defeated Pedro Garcia / Juan Garcia (6-3)

Number three: 

David Santamaria / Sebastian Fujita defeated Nolan Smith / Joao Felipe Almeida (6-3)

Singles Competition: 

Ignacio Acosta falls to Gaston Erhardt (0-6, 0-6)

Guido Gentile falls to Tom Alias (3-6, 3-6)

Luigi Stefanacci falls to Anderson Duggan (0-6, 3-6)

Alejandro Suarez vs. Pedro Garcia (4-6, 5-3) [UF]

Sebastian Fujita falls to Nolan Smith (2-6, 6-7, 8-10)

David Santamaria vs. Joao Felipe Almeida (2-6, 6-0, 0-2) [UF]

Up Next: FNU's next contest features a conference foe, as SCAD Savannah heads to Goodlet Park on March 22.