Consolation Matches Await Florida Tech In Lakeland

By  //  September 29, 2012

Tennis Players Reach Quarterfinals

LAKELAND, FLORIDA – Florida Tech’s men’s tennis team opened day three with three players in the singles consolation round of 16 at the ITA South Regional Championships at the Beermann Family Tennis Center in Lakeland on Friday. 

Florida Tech's Riley Lorenz won his opening set in the singles consolation round of 16 at the ITA South Regional Championships in Lakeland on Friday. (Image courtesy Florida Tech)

The Panthers’ Beau Fieldsend and Patrick Hernandez advanced to the quarterfinal round, but were knocked out of contention on their way to the semifinals.

Both Fieldsend and Hernandez advanced to the singles consolation quarterfinals with straight-set wins. Fieldsend defeated Eckerd’s Madison Durley, 6-3, 6-1. Hernandez swept his opponent from Palm Beach Atlantic, Asteway Adams, 6-0, 6-0.

Hernandez also faced Palm Beach Atlantic’s Adams to start the day in a consolation doubles match. Hernandez teamed with Matic Leskovar to defeat Adams and Michael Leonard by a score of 8-3 to advance to the consolation semifinals. They will face West Alabama’s Luis Ruiz and Honorio Fernandez next.

“Matic and Patrick played a smart doubles match today,” Florida Tech head coach Bill Macom said. “Their return game was solid and they moved well at the net.”

In the singles consolation quarterfinals, Fieldsend came up short against Rollins’ Malte Christesen, 6-2, 6-3. Hernandez was unable to finish his quarterfinal match against Saint Leo’s Ismail Lemtouni, forcing him to retire at 6-3, 4-1 in favor of Lemtouni.

Riley Lorenz won his opening set in the singles consolation round of 16, 6-1. But Palm Beach Atlantic’s Mark Heimberger came back to win, taking the final two sets, 6-4, 10-4.

“[Riley] played a great singles match,” Macom said. “He kept his unforced errors down and made his opponent work for every point.”

The final two days of the ITA South Regional Championships will be played at the Wynee Warden Complex on the campus of Florida Southern. Day three action begins Saturday at 8:30 a.m.