BRADENTON, Fla. – Thomas Bugeaud raised his arms in victory, and let out a loud roar. Pierre Montrieul was victorious in simultaneous fashion. You would have needed a photo finish to decide the difference.
They called it a draw, and as a result Barry University's second-ranked men's tennis team put to rest a 6-0 victory over No. 28 Rollins in the Sunshine State Conference semifinals Friday at IMG Academy. That set up a date in Saturday's 10 a.m. finals, where the Bucs will compete for their 13th SSC Tournament title in program history.
Although Bugeaud and Montrieul's respective Nos. 6 and 2 singles matches ended at the same time in a postseason match where the fifth point decides team victories, both went down as wins in the books. Bugeaud beat Cody Gubin, 6-1, 6-1, and the 26th-ranked Montrieul was a 6-0, 6-3 winner over Francesco Racanelli.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Barry 6, Rollins 0
Records: Barry 20-1, Rollins 11-10
SUMMARY:
- Fourth-ranked Ahmed Triki and Montrieul defeated Patrick Sell and Sami Kirberg, 8-4, at No. 1 doubles for the Bucs' first point.
- Nico Dreer and Fernando Tous extended Barry's lead to 2-0 with an 8-3 victory over Ziad Melhaoui and Racanelli at No. 3 doubles.
- Vivien Versier and Carlos Gomez, the 25th-ranked team in the country, pulled out an 8-6 win over Daniel Ferl and Gubin at No. 2 pairs to send the Buccaneers into singles with a 3-Love lead.
- Nico Dreer gave Barry a 4-0 lead when Melhaoui retired after dropping the first set, 6-0.
- Second-ranked Triki split sets with Sell at No. 1 singles before the match ended. Fabian Pronnet won a first-set tiebreaker with Ferl, 7-6 (7-4), at No. 5 singles. No. 11-ranked Gomez won the first set versus Kirberg, 7-5.
NOTEWORTHY:
- Dreer picked up his 61st career singles victory to move into a tie for seventh with Andrew Sharnov on the all-time list.
- Triki won his 78th career doubles match, tying him with Thomas Hipp for third all time.
- Barry last won the SSC Tournament title in 2015.
ON THE HORIZON:
Barry will meet Lynn in Saturday's 10 a.m. championship match at IMG Academy.
BOX SCORE