Oct. 15, 2007

Jacksonville, Fla. - The Bethune-Cookman University men's tennis team took part over the weekend in the University of North Florida Invitational in Jacksonville, Fla. The Wildcats competed very well against some strong competition from all around the southeast and beyond.

All six Wildcat men's players played in singles and doubles matches over the weekend.

In singles play, it was Cristian Cruz and Stefan James seeing great matches in the A Flight. James fell to Emmanuel Nkoueleue of Georgia Southern in the second round on scores of 6-2, 6-2.

In Flight B action, Yannick Jackson and Jerome Ward faced off against stiff play from two worthy opponents. Jackson lost to Osvaldo Benitez of Florida Atlantic (6-1, 6-1) while Ward fell to Oliver Reynolds of Stetson (6-3, 6-1).

Luis Gomes played Marcos Oliveira of Jacksonville tough in Flight C action before falling on scores of 6-4, 6-1. Finally, Terry Powell fell to JU's Vinicius Craveiro by a count of 6-3, 6-2 in a greatly contested match.

Those two matches were a part of Flight C action.

In doubles play, Jackson and Ward gave Troy's Guilherme Sahadhi and Marko Zivikovic a battle to a 9-8 decision before falling in the end. It was one of the best matches of the tournament, according to scores.

Gomes and Powell played strong though falling 8-3 in the end to Georgia Southern's Mark Paetz and Phillip Prins.

The men's squad will wrap-up the fall season on Oct. 19-22 when they travel to the ITA Southeast Regional Championships in Lexington, Ky. The event is being hosted by the University of Kentucky. For more information, please contact the B-CU Office of Sports Information at (386) 481-2206.