NEW ORLEANS - The No. 3 Florida Atlantic men ruined the host's chances to advance out of the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championships, defeating No. 6 New Orleans 4-0 on Thursday afternoon at the University Tennis Center.
With the victory, FAU (13-8) will advance to face No. 2 Troy at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon. Troy won their quarterfinal by a 4-0 result over No. 7 Western Kentucky, also on Thursday afternoon.
The Owls won the two completed doubles' matches to take the doubles' point over UNO (4-16). The Privateers have struggled in doubles' play for most of the year, winning the doubles' point three times over 20 matches this year.
Marc Abdelnour and Matthew Braunworth were 8-2 winners at the No. 3 position over Guilherme Rebolo and Rohit Chivukula with Ervin Garibovic and Joshua Schnoll wrapping up the doubles' point with an 8-4 win over Benjamin Bouhana and Abdelrahman Zaki on the No. 2 court.
UNO's Stepan Siska and Ben Smith were ahead 6-2 over Lawrence Harradine and Georg Matschke on No. 1, before the match was called with the conclusion of doubles' play.
In singles' play, Braunworth posted the first win for the Owls on the board, defeating Chivukula 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6. Abdelnour followed suit with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Bouhana at No. 1 before Schnoll put a stop to the match with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Zaki at No. 4.
UNO led in two of the unfinished matches as Siska won a first set tiebreaker over Lawrence Harradine 7-6 (5) with Rebolo besting Georg Matschke 7-5 in the first set.
"I am extremely proud of how the teams competed under some of the most difficult circumstances," said head coach Burzis Kanga. "They have battled throughout injuries and came together as a unit to put up a good fight."
"They competed at the highest level against a good FAU team and we look forward to next season."
The match concludes the second season for the Privateer men, who resumed competition in 2008-09 under Kanga. The SBC championships will continue through Sunday with the men wrapping up their computer on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Florida Atlantic 4, University of New Orleans 0
Apr 22, 2010 at New Orleans, La. (University Tennis Ctr)
Singles competition
1. Abdelnour, Marc (FAU) def. Benjamin Bouhana (UNO) 7-5, 6-1
2. Stepan Siska (UNO) vs. Harradine, Lawrence (FAU) 7-6 (7-5), 1-2, unfinished
3. Ben Smith (UNO) vs. Garibovic, Ervin (FAU) 6-7 (4-7), 2-5, unfinished
4. Scholl, Joshua (FAU) def. Abdelrahman Zaki (UNO) 6-4, 6-2
5. Guilherme Rebolo (UNO) vs. Matschke, Georg (FAU) 7-5, 2-2, unfinished
6. Braunworth, Matthew (FAU) def. Rohit Chivukula (UNO) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Ben Smith/Stepan Siska (UNO) vs. Matschke, Georg/Harradine, Lawrence (FAU) 6-2, unfinished
2. Garibovic, Ervin/Scholl, Joshua (FAU) def. Abdelrahman Zaki/Benjamin Bouhana (UNO) 8-4
3. Abdelnour, Marc/Braunworth, Matthew (FAU) def. Guilherme Rebolo/Rohit Chivukula (UNO) 8-2
