Men's Tennis Hosts Central Florida, Loyola Marymount
3/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Air Force's men's tennis team concludes its nine-match home stand this weekend against Central Florida on Saturday, Mar. 17 at 2 p.m. and Loyola Marymount on Sunday, Mar. 18 at 10 a.m.
The Falcons enter the weekend with an 11-4 record after winning three home matches last weekend. Air Force defeated Eastern Washington, 6-1, and Illinois-Chicago, 7-0, on Friday, then beat Missouri-Kansas City, 6-1, on Sunday.
Series Records: Air Force is 1-3 against Central Florida. The teams have not played since the 1993 season, when Central Florida defeated AFA, 5-4. It was one of only two regular-season losses for the Falcons during their 25-2 campaign. Air Force has won all 14 matches against Loyola-Marymount, including a 5-2 victory during the 1999 season.
Head Coach: Falcon coach Rich Gugat is in his 27th season with the Falcons, sporting a career record of 621-165. He is currently fourth among active coaches on the NCAA career wins list, and third among active coaches with a .790 winning percentage.
Last Week
vs. Eastern Washington: Air Force dominated the singles competition, winning all but one of the matches. Sophomore Eric Pittman led the way with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ryan Moran a the No. 1 position. Freshman Justin Mancinelli improved his record to 11-1 with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Toyo Jadamatsu.
The Falcons also captured all three doubles matches against Eastern Washington to win the doubles point. Junior Eric Johnson and sophomore Tyler West defeated John Gruber and Anthony Venable, 8-1 at No. 2 doubles.
vs. Illinois-Chicago: Air Force won all nine of its matches against Illinois-Chicago, including all three doubles matches to win the doubles point. Pittman and sophomore Alan Haedge posted 6-0, 6-0 victories at No. 1 and No. 6 singles, respectively. Senior Doug Fike had the closest match, defeating Jon Schmidt 6-7, 7-6 and 10-6 in a super tie-breaker for the third set.
vs. Missouri-Kansas City: The Falcons dominated the doubles competition, winning all three matches to win the doubles point. The brother team of juniors Chris and Greg Zielinski improved their dual match record to 13-1 with an 8-1 victory over Darren Heck and Brian Takemoto at the No. 1 position.
In the singles competition, Air Force had only one casualty with a hard fought, 6-0, 6-7, 10-8 (super tie-break) victory for UMKC's Angelo Vasilescu over Pittman. Chris Zielinski (No. 4 singles) and Mancinelli (No. 6) also played super tie-breakers for their third sets, with both players winning their matches.
