Box Score

MARIETTA, Ga. - The #58 University of North Florida Ospreys (17-5, 7-1 A-Sun) came into town today as heavy favorites as they took on the Owls of Kennesaw State (10-12, 1-7 A-Sun), and the Owls gave the visitors all they could handle, before ultimately falling to the Ospreys, 6-1.

In the doubles, the Owls were neck and neck at all three spots before finally dropping the No. 1 contest, 8-4, as well as the No. 2 match, 8-5.  The freshmen pairing of Alex Toliver and Alexander Pena raised their record in the A-Sun as a pair to 2-1 with a 8-7(6) win over Pedro Davisson and Leonardo Nahar of the Ospreys, who were 4-2 in the A-Sun as a pair entering the contest.

"Alex and Alex have been playing some very solid doubles together as of late," commented Head Coach #T.J. Greggs#.  "They're both very intense guys, and they play with a lot of energy in doubles."

In the singles, the Owls were able to put a genuine scare in the Ospreys, with Owl No. 2 Louis Theodor and No. 5 Gokalp Ozdemir both taking the first set.  Shortly thereafter, courts No. 3 and No. 4 started getting interesting and Simon Janik and Gianni Kubin would fight back to push their matches into a third set.  Unfortunately for the Owls, the upset bid would be short-lived, as they Ospreys picked up straight set wins at No. 1 and No. 6, and Theodor eventually was overpowered by Davisson, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to put the match out of reach.  The lone singles win for the Owls came at the No. 5 spot, where Ozdemir picked up the victory when his opponent had to retire with injury with the match tied at 6-0, 3-6, 4-4.

"Moral victories are nice and all," continued Greggs, "but we legitimately had a chance to pull of a huge upset today, and we fell a little short.  I think this is a great match to remember for next season, and remember how close we are to being a contender in this conference.  The guys fought hard today and gave their all, so I can't complain."

The Owls will finish their season tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. when they take on Jacksonville.  Janik will be recognized before the match as the first KSU men's tennis player to finish four years of play for the Owls.  Also on hand will be members of the original men's team in 2008-09.