O'Brien knocks off No. 29 in singles, Tech drops two on road
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Tennessee Tech sophomore Dean O'Brien has
started the 2009 tennis season with a 3-0 record, including a
singles win over the 29th ranked player in the country in the
second match of the season.
His success wasn't enough to prevent the Golden Eagles from
dropping two close matches to open the season while visiting the
Sunshine state, with losses to Florida A&M and No. 11 Florida
State.
Tech opened the trip with a visit to Florida A&M. With only a
week of practice and the weather cooler than normal for the area,
the Golden Eagles fell to the host Rattlers, 5-2. O'Brien picked up
his first win of the dual match season with a 7-5, 6-1 trouncing of
Artiom Podgainii. Freshman Justin Kirstein picked up Tech's other
singles win over Paul Paige, 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles saw FAMU claim two wins, but it was the duo of O'Brien and
sophomore Josh Girling that got the win for the Golden Eagles
8-3.
With only a nights rest, Tech faced one of the best teams in
country. Florida State, No. 11 in the pre-season polls, wanted to
play singles first instead of doubles. It almost backfired.
The Seminoles got the first point of the match with a win at number
two singles. But Tech rebounded at number five with a win from
Kirstein over Drew Bailey, 6-4, 6-2.
With the score 3-1 in favor of FSU, O'Brien had the match of the
day with a three-set win over No. 29 Clint Bowles at the top
singles spot. The win moved O'Brien to 3-0 overall on the
season.
"I told Dean that he is one of the top players in the country, and
today proved it," Silverstein said. "A win of this caliber should
shoot him up into the singles rankings."
Tech (0-2, 0-0 OVC) has less than a week before they travel once
more, this time to Middle Tennessee State on Jan. 23. The match
will be played indoors in Nashville.
