Falcons Beat St. Peter's College, 7-0

March 13, 2010

The Air Force men's tennis team won its eighth consecutive match Friday afternoon with a 7-0 victory over St. Peter's College at the Academy. The Falcons, who matched their longest win streak since the 2002-03 season, improved to 9-2, the best start since the spring of 2003.

The Falcons opened an early 1-0 lead by sweeping the three doubles matches for the seventh time in their last eight contests. AFA's No. 2 team of senior Austin Francis and freshman Lance Wilhelm had one of their most dominating performances of the spring, defeating Sergey Igel and Robert Forai, 8-2, while junior Alex Beaussart and freshman Sam Barnes won at the No. 3 spot, 8-4, over Andrew Musyoka and Luccas Coutinho to clinch the point. Senior Brett Rodgers and junior Taylor Soster improved to 10-1 at the top spot with a come from behind, 8-7 victory over Alex and Chris Frakes.

Rodgers put the Falcons up 2-0 with an impressive, 6-0, 6-1 win over JJ Gramatica at the No. 4 position, then Wilhelm improved to 10-1 at the No. 1 singles spot after rallying from a 5-2 first-set deficit to win 11 straight games and beat Igel, 7-5, 6-0. Francis clinched the match for Air Force with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alex Frakes at No. 2.

The most exciting match of he day was at the No. 3 singles spot, where Soster and Forai split the first two sets to force a super tie-breaker. Forai took a 9-7 lead, but Soster won the last four points to claim an 11-9 victory. Freshman Vinni Lodolo and junior Alex Beaussart won at No. 5 and 6, respectively.

Air Force is idle for the next week before taking on service-academy rival Army at the Tiki Courts at Rollins College in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, March 21. The two teams have not played since 2005.

Air Force 7, St. Peter's College 0

Singles

1. Lance Wilhelm (AF) def. Sergey Igel, 7-5, 6-0

2. Austin Francis (AF) def. Alex Frakes, 6-2, 6-4

3. Taylor Soster (AF) def. Robert Forai, 7-5, 4-6, (11-9)

4. Brett Rodgers (AF) def. JJ Gramatica, 6-0, 6-1

5. Vinni Lodolo (AF) def. Andrew Musyoka, 6-3, 6-2

6. Alex Beaussart (AF) def. Chris Frakes, 5-0, ret.

Doubles

1. Rodgers / Soster (AF) def. Frakes / Frakes, 8-7(2)

2. Francis / Wilhelm (AF) def. Igel / Forai, 8-2

3. Beaussart / Sam Barnes (AF) def. Musyoka / Luccas Coutinho, 8-4

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Players Mentioned

Sam Barnes

Alex Beaussart

Austin Francis

Vinni Lodolo

Brett Rodgers

Taylor Soster

Lance Wilhelm

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