Orlando, Fla. - The Stetson men's tennis team (8-2) came up just short in a hard-fought battle with host UCF (4-4) Thursday at the UCF Tennis complex, falling 4-3.  Sophomore Didrik Berg (Oslo, Norway), senior Alex Hackett (Surrey, England) and junior Maksim Levanovich (Minsk, Belarus) won singles matches for the Hatters.

After UCF claimed the doubles point, the Hatters and Knights traded blows throughout the singles session.  Berg, Hackett and Levanovich alternated wins with UCF players as the outcome eventually came down to Court 2, where Blaze Schwartz held off a battling effort from junior Cesare Gallo (Portogruaro, Italy) to win 6-3, 7-6 and give the home team the victory.

Berg, Hackett and Levanovich continued their run of outstanding tennis to begin the 2011 season; the trio has a combined record of 24-3 in singles matches.  The Berg/Gallo doubles duo had an eight-match unbeaten streak come to an end this afternoon.

Stetson hosts Atlantic Sun Conference rival FGCU at 10 a.m. Saturday in the A-Sun opener for both squads at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center.  The Hatters-Eagles women's match will follow at 2 p.m.  Live Stats will be available for both matches at GoHatters.com.

STETSON SOCIAL MEDIA

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