After a defeat to North Florida last week, the University of Miami noticeably came out with more competitive fervor against Troy on Saturday afternoon. The Hurricanes took a commanding 6-1 victory to improve to 2-1 on the year.
“We executed under pressure,” Hurricanes Coach Aljosa Piric said. “We just played a little tougher during the critical points.”
The Canes started the day by dominating in doubles play. Jesse Flores and Max Andrews won 6-1, and the tandem of Piotr Lomacki and Nile Clark was victorious 6-2.
Lomacki led the way in singles competition with tight 6-3, 6-4 victories.
“I did not feel too comfortable out on the court today,” Lomacki said. “I definitely didn’t play my best, but I played with what I had in order to win.”
Christian Langmo struggled early against the speedy Hassan Ndayishimiye but was able to come back and take his match.
“I came out a little bit slow, but I came out in the second set, lifted my energy up and lifted my game up,” Langmo said.
The biggest moment of the match came when Max Andrews found himself trailing in the first-set tiebreaker 5-3 against Troy’s Mustafa Belcora. After settling down and winning three-straight points to claim a 6-5 lead, Andrews ran down an overhead shot and lobbed the ball over the head of Belcora, who was unable to return it, to seal the victory. Andrews would go on to win the second set 6-1 to take the match.
“What I liked about Max was that he was able to really settle into patterns and not give [the opponent] anything at that point,” Piric said.
Troy’s only point came when Amer Bedwan defeated Dane Dunlap in three sets.
Miami tennis will next host Mississippi State at 3 p.m. on Friday.