SAVANNAH, Ga. – Barry University's men's tennis team lost its first match of the season Sunday, falling to ninth-ranked West Florida, 5-4, in a gruelling battle between the two South Region rivals.
The seventh-ranked Buccaneers scored a huge win at No. 1 doubles when Ahmed Triki and Pierre Montrieul, newly formed this semester, knocked off the No. 1-ranked pairs team in the country when they beat Alex Peyrot and Pedro Dumont, 8-5. But the Bucs dropped the remaining two pairs matches, setting the stage for a singles battle.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: West Florida 5, Barry 4
Records: Barry 8-1, West Florida 9-1
SUMMARY:
- Triki beat Peyrot, the 37th-ranked player in Division II, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1, at No. 1 singles.
- Barry's 33rd-ranked Nico Dreer beat Dumont, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, at No. 4.
- Montrieul was a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) winner over Serdar Bojadjieva at the third singles position.
- The Bucs lost the remaining three singles matches in three sets -- two featuring nationally-ranked Buccaneers as Carlos Gomez and Thomas Bugeaud fell at the Nos. 2 and 6 positions. Barry's Fabian Pronnet battled through a three-set match, drawing to a 5-4 lead in the third set before he cramped up and dropped the No. 5 singles match.
NOTEWORTHY:
- Triki and Montrieul improved to 3-0 over nationally-ranked opponents.
- Dreer picked up his team-leading seventh singles victory. Dreer's 51 career singles wins is tied for 12th in school history.
- Triki owns the school's best singles winning percentage at .922. He is 47-4 in his four-year Buccaneer career.
ON THE HORIZON:
Barry will host Auburn-Montgomery 11 a.m. Thursday as Barry's 26-year coach George Samuel goes for his 500th career victory with the men's program. He won 308 matches while also coaching the women's team for 18 years.
