Men’s tennis team picks up its first win of the season

The Troy University men’s tennis team started team match play this past week. The team kicked off its season against the No. 13 Florida Gators on Friday, Jan. 16, in Gainesville, Florida.

Junior Gabriel Dias and sophomore Hassan Ndayishimye picked up wins in their singles matches for Troy.

Dias won his match against sophomore Maxx Lipman 7-6 (7-1), 6-1. Ndayishimye won his match against junior Gordon Watson 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 1-0 (12-10). The other four singles players for the Trojans dropped their matches to Florida.

The Trojans lost all three of their doubles matches, starting off the season 0-1. Troy lost the matchup 5-2.

Troy faced off against Florida A&M on Saturday, Jan. 17, in Tallahassee, Florida, and picked up its first win in Tallahassee.

Troy won all of its singles matches except for line one singles, sophomore Andre Baldo, who lost 6-2, 6-1. Freshman Calum McKinlay won his match by default.

Troy won one out of its three doubles matches by default.

The first line, which featured McKinlay and freshman Andy Lau, lost 6-2.

The second line, played by junior Giovani Samaha and freshman Austin Racine, lost 7-5.

The third line was won by default. Troy defeated Florida A&M 5-2.

The Trojans played No. 35 Florida State on Saturday as well.

Troy did not win any singles or doubles matches. There were only four matches that were close.

Junior Daniel Bustamante lost his match to junior Michael Rinaldi 6-4, 4-1. The match was unfinished. Freshman Cyprian Owczarz lost to sophomore Jake Albo 7-6 (7-5), 2-2, and that match was unfinished as well.

There were two doubles that were close.

The second line, featuring Ndayishimye and Lau, lost 5-4 to senior Cristian Gonzalez Mendez and redshirt freshman Jose Gracia, as their match was unfinished.

The third line was played by Dias and Bustamante, and they lost 6-4 to freshmen Terrance and Terrell Whitehurst. Troy lost this matchup 4-0.

The men’s tennis team plays SMU and Abilene Christian in its next matchup on Saturday, Jan. 24, in Dallas.