01/09/2026

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Florida Gulf Coast University men’s tennis team returns to the court this weekend, traveling to Orlando for a two-day slate at the USTA National Campus.

The Eagles are scheduled to face the University of Louisiana at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 10, followed by a matchup against No. 14 UCF at noon on Sunday, Jan. 11.

FGCU last played Barry University and Boston College at the Pelican Bay Invitational in Naples, Florida, from Nov. 14-15. The Eagles secured four of seven singles victories against Barry, led by Gustav Hasslegren, Stefan Correa, Harry Michalowski and CJ Smith.

The Eagles were even more dominant in doubles play, completing a clean sweep of all three matches with pairings from Correa and Hugo Magnusson, Jonathan Baron and Hasslegren, and Smith and Michalowski.

In their match with Boston College, FGCU tested themselves against Power Five competition, splitting six singles matches. Magnusson, Baron and Pablo Paternostro all earned points for the Eagles.

FGCU swept three doubles matches over the Eagles once again with pairings from Baron and Hasslegren, Correa and Magnusson, and Smith and Michalowski. In a crossover match, FGCU’s Paternostro and Boston College’s Mai Gao beat Luke Levanat and Lucas Rao 8-1.

On Tuesday, Magnusson was named to the Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason All-ASUN team. He finished the fall season with a 10-5 singles record and a 9-4 doubles record.

Louisiana

Louisiana comes to Florida looking to build momentum after the Country Club of Birmingham Invite hosted by Samford University from Oct. 24-26.

Darius Balan led the Ragin’ Cajuns in Birmingham, winning all three of his singles matches. Balan capped the weekend with a 6-3, 6-2 win over College of Charleston’s Jake Smith in the final round.

David Simeonov also reached the finals after defeating his first two opponents, but he fell to Piotr Andrzeweski of Tulane, 6-2, 6-3. Nikola Kolyachev rounded out the singles highlights by reaching the semifinals.

In doubles action, Balan and Kolyachev won their opening match before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Samford’s Cooper Errey and Lukas Dvorak, 6-0. Simeonov and Gianluca Filoramo also reached the quarterfinals but lost to South Alabama’s Jules Caby and Adam Bouyacoub 6-2.

No. 14 UCF

The Knights enter the weekend ranked No. 14 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason poll.

UCF closed its fall campaign at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships in Gainesville from Oct. 8-13.

Clement Lemire led the charge, earning three consecutive victories over FGCU’s Magnusson (6-0, 6-2), Georgia Tech’s Elias Shokry (7-6, 6-2) and Georgia Tech’s Hidde Schoenmakers (6-4, 1-6, 6-2) to reach the quarterfinals. He fell in the quarterfinal to South Florida’s Hugo Car 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

UCF’s Pedro Rodrigues beat USF’s Timeo Gaillard 6-2, 6-3 and Georgia’s Noah Johnston 6-4, 6-2 before falling to Florida State’s Luis Felipe Miguel in three sets, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.

Nicolas Oliveira defeated Georgia State’s Gabriele Datei 6-3, 6-0 then fell to Miami’s Antonio Prat 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.

In doubles, Paul Colin and Wissam Abderrahman beat USF’s Elijah Cham and Guglielmo Verdese 8-2 before losing to North Florida’s Andreas Scott and Enrique Pena 8-3.

Editor’s Note

It was stated that the match with the University of Louisiana started at noon. The actual start time is 1 :30 p.m. This has been updated in the post.