Men’s tennis keeps winning streak alive at five

The men’s tennis team continued its dominant play on Sunday against in-state opponent Jacksonville. The Hurricanes are off to an unprecedented start as they improved to 5-0 with a 6-1 win over the Dolphins.

The ‘Canes took the early doubles point and never looked back, despite Jacksonville winning the second of the three doubles contests. The No. 41 doubles team of sophomores Tim Krebs and Colin Purcell defeated Ben Birkman and Christoph Mueller 8-5. Freshman Josh Cohen and Eric Hechtman defeated Andres Rojas and Peter Wietrak 8-2. John Hoyes and Jeremiah Fuller lost to Martin Hehensteiger and Neil Sehgal 8-5.

“We wanted to make sure that we didn’t look ahead of this team today because of Florida,” Head Coach Bryan Getz said. “The guys did a great job at taking care of their personal responsibilities.”

Cohen went on to win in first singles play 6-3, 6-2 and remained undefeated at the top spot on the season. Hechtman defeated Wietrak 6-1, 6-1 in the third singles spot and Purcell blanked Rojas in second singles 6-0, 6-0.

The only Miami player to lose on the day was Hoyes, who lost in a tough battle to Ben Birkmann, 7-6, 5-7 (4-10). Hoyes was down 4-1 in the second set but battled back to tie it at five apiece before dropping the final two games of the set. Krebs had a solid day, as he won in the No. 4 position against Mueller 6-4, 6-0. Fuller added a win in sixth singles competition over Neil Sehgal 6-1, 6-3.

“Everyone put in their equal [share] as there wasn’t anyone who really stood out today,” Getz said. “Eric is a gamer out there and Josh was there for us again as he has been. It was great to see our Nos. 4, 5 and 6 win today.”

With the loss, Jacksonville fell to 1-5 on the year. It was a match the Hurricanes had to win, as they are going up against the No. 7 Florida Gators in a make-up match on Wednesday after their match last Sunday was rained out.

“This was a stepping stone for us as our main goal is to beat the [expletive deleted] out of the Gators on Wednesday,” Getz said.

The ‘Canes face the Gators of Florida on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.

Douglas Kroll can be contacted at d.kroll@umiami.edu.