The #11 ranked men's tennis team from Keiser University fell this afternoon to NCAA Division II #30 ranked Palm Beach Atlantic 5-4.
The day started off with
Rafael Lenz and
Arthur Bonnaud falling 8-4 to Nicolas Uryson and Hendrik Burmeister.Â
Ignacio Osse and
Martin Martins then fell 9-7 to Salmon and Da Silva, giving PBA the 2-0 lead. The Seahawks got on the board when
Nicolas Guerschanik and
Shaquille Taylor won #2 doubles 8-6, cutting the deficit to 2-1 heading into singles.Â
When singles got going the drama continued as freshman
Arthur Bonnaud, made his debut in a big way winning 6-3, 6-4 over Adams, leveling  the match at 2-2. Martins gave Keiser their first lead of the day of 3-2 after he won his #6 match 7-5, 6-2 over Nunez.
The Sailfish evened the match at 3-3 with a win at #3 singles as Lenz fell to Battestini 6-3, 6-2. Palm Beach Atlantic retook the lead when Uryson, the #15 ranked singles player in NCAA Division II won a tight battle over Guerschanik 7-6(5), 6-3.
Palm Beach Atlantic needed one more match to clinch the dual, but the two remaining matches went into a third set just to make things a little more dramatic. At #4 singles, Osse battled severe leg cramps, having to serve underhand and came from behind numerous times to finally win his match over Salmon 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(2) and knotting the match at 4-4.
Taylor just like Osse was battling cramps in an epic match that eventually had him falling 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 and allowing PBA the 5-4 victory after four and half hours of play.
Head Coach
Daniel Finn said, "This match was definitely tough. Anytime you have players lay everything out there like that and then come up just short in the end is very painful. You have to give credit to PBA as their kids battled and earned the win. We will get back to work in practice and sharpen things up and learn from this. I am excited for the direction we are heading and these boys held nothing back and were willing to fight tooth and nail for everything. At the end of the day, that's all you can ask for."
The Seahawks return to the court on February 15th when they travel to Middle Georgia College for a 1:00 p.m. match.
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