Tennis’ struggles continue

The Troy men’s tennis team suffered a pair of losses over the weekend, falling 2-4 at Florida Atlantic and 1-6 at Miami (Florida).

The Trojans’ loss at Miami was their fourth straight, with their last win coming against South Alabama on Jan. 15. In both contests, Troy (2-5) held its own in singles play, but struggled to win in doubles. The result was two lopsided losses on the road.

Against FAU, Troy was unable to find an answer for the first three doubles matches of the day. Troy’s Mustapha Belcora and Pablo Moreno got off to a slow start and couldn’t bounce back, and fell in their match 6-2. Hassan Ndayishimiye and Andre Baldo’s contest had much the same result, ending in a 6-3 victory for the Owl’s Andrei Morin-Kougoucheff and Remi Chancerel.

The Trojans’ Amer Bedwan and Christopher Tasker came closest to a win, but they, too, fell by a score of 5-4.

The visitors rallied in singles play, with Troy’s Austine Racine winning his match 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 following a Baldo retirement in the first singles match of the day. Andy Lau fell in three sets in his matchup with FAU’s Morin-Kougoucheff, but the Trojans’ Belcora evened out the singles record up to that point with a 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 win in the ensuing match.

FAU snuffed the rally, though, closing out the day with two more singles wins to clinch the victory.

Saturday afternoon’s matchup with ACC opponent Miami didn’t fare any better for the Trojans as the Hurricanes controlled both competitions.

Bedwan earned the lone victory and point for Troy, topping the ’Canes’ Dane Dunlap in three sets by a score of 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. With the win, the freshman improved to a 13-5 record overall this season as well as improving to 5-0 in match play.

No other Trojans came close to a singles win, save for Moreno, who fell in a close match to Miami’s Jesse Flores by a score of 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5).

Troy will come home to play its first match of the season at the Lunsford Tennis Complex, where it will face North Florida on Monday. Start time is scheduled for 11 a.m.