Wake Forest Defeats UCF in Thriller

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Seventh-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis defeated the UCF Knight 5-2 on Friday evening. Siddhant Banthia rallied after dropping the first set to clinch the match for the Deacons as Wake improved to 5-0 on the year. UCF dropped to 2-3 and 1-3 against ranked opponents.

"We started the match strong winning the doubles point, that really helped us heading into singles against a very strong UCF team," head coach Tony Bresky said." Nava and Taha picked up great two-set wins and then Sid battled back after dropping the first set to clinch the match for us."

On the top court, duo Eduardo Nava and Henri Squire picked up their third doubles win together, winning 6-3 over Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel. Courts two and three were both knotted up at 5-5 and then 6-6 sending each match into a tiebreak. Bar Botzer and Morgan Dill came out on top first, defeating Alan Rubio and JanMagnus Johnson 7-6 (1) to give Wake a 1-0 advantage. Melios Efstathiou and Taha Baadi were up 6-6 (5-0) against the sixth-ranked doubles team before the point was clinched.

Doubles action was a glimpse into what the rest of the match would turn out to be. Wake took the opening two singles points as Nava defeated Johnson 6-2, 6-1 in the fifth spot. Baadi finished just moments later, with a 6-1, 6-3 win on court three, giving Wake Forest a 3-0 advantage.

UCF worked its way back into the match, taking matches two and one as No. 22 Gabriel Decamps topped Botzer and No. 29 Mazzuchi defeated Efstathiou to cut the deficit to one. The match fell into the hands of Henri Squire on court four and Siddhant Banthia on court six. Both Deacs dropped their first sets but rallied back in the second to force a third set for the match.

After falling 6-4 in the opening frame, Banthia came back to take a comfortable 6-1 win in the second set. Up 4-3, Banthia held at deuce to take a 5-3 lead in the third set. Trey Hilderbrand rallied to tie the set back up at 5-5, but Banthia clinched the win for the Deacs taking control with a 7-5 decision.

Squire rounded out the victory for Wake, finishing with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in the fourth spot.

The Deacons hit the road for their first road test of the season, taking on No. 5 Baylor on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 5 p.m.

FULL RESULTS
Singles
1. #22 Gabriel Decamps (UCF) def. #43 Bar Botzer (WAKE) 6-4, 6-3
2. #29 Juan Pablo Mazzuchi (UCF) def. Melios Efstathiou (WAKE) 6-2, 6-1
3. Taha Baadi (WAKE) def. Alan Rubio (UCF) 6-1, 6-3
4. Henri Squire (WAKE) def. #108 Bogdan Pavel (UCF) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Eduardo Nava (WAKE) def. JanMagnus Johnson (UCF) 6-2, 6-1
6. #67 Siddhant Banthia (WAKE) def. Trey Hilderbrand (UCF) 4-6, 6-1, 7-5

Doubles
1. Henri Squire/Eduardo Nava (WAKE) def. Trey Hilderbrand/Bogdan Pavel (UCF) 6-3
2. Melios Efstathiou/Taha Baadi (WAKE) vs. #6 Gabriel Decamps/Juan Pablo Mazzuchi (UCF) 6-6 (5-1), unfinished
3. Bar Botzer/Morgan Dill (WAKE) def. Alan Rubio/JanMagnus Johnson (UCF) 7-6 (7-1)

Next Event

Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Taha Baadi

Siddhant Banthia

Bar Botzer

Morgan Dill

Melios Efstathiou

Eduardo Nava

Henri Squire