Air Force Academy

Feb. 9, 2008

The Air Force men's tennis team improved its record to 3-2 this season with a pair of victories at the Academy on Saturday. The Falcons defeated Metro State, 6-1, and Colorado College, 7-0.

Air Force took two of three doubles matches this morning against Metro State, with Austin Francis and James Tomlin winning, 8-5, at the No. 2 spot against Angelo Faustino and Ryan Campbell. Johnny Buckingham and Greg Ferry followed suit by winning the No. 3 match by the same score over Blake Howard and Brandon Lupo.

The Falcons then won five of the six singles matches, four of them in straight sets. Brett Rodgers led things off with a 6-4, 7-5 win a t No. 1 over Sascha Ruckelshausen, while Francis downed Lupo, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 2. Tomlin was stretched to three sets at the No. 3 spots before beating Faustino, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3.

Metro's Riley Meyer defeated AFA's Taylor Soster, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 4, but the Falcons took home the final two matches with Buckingham beating Campbell, 7-6, 6-1 at No. 5, and Ferry downing Howard, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6.

In the afternoon match against Colorado College, the Falcons once again jumped out to a 1-0 lead by winning two of the three doubles matches. Rodgers and Soster defeated Brian Thirkell and Thomas Modern, 8-2. Ferry paired with Harrison Maloy to win the No. 3 match, 8-4, over Nick Kreczko and Evan Jonker.

In singles play, Air Force won all six singles matches in straight sets, including a 6-0, 6-1 victory for Francis at the No. l spot over Thirkell.

Air Force returns to the court on Thursday, Feb. 14 against South Dakota State, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Academy's indoor courts.

Singles
1. Brett Rodgers (AF) def. Sascha Ruckelshausen (Metro) 6-4, 7-5
2. Austin Francis (AF) def Brandon Lupo (Metro) 6-3, 6-1
3. James Tomlin (AF) def. Angelo Faustino (Metro) 6-2, 0-6, 6-3
4. Riley Meyer (Metro) def. Taylor Soster (AF) 6-3, 6-2
5. Johnny Buckingham (AF) def. Ryan Campbell (Metro) 7-6, 6-1
6. Greg Ferry (AF) def. Blake Howard (Metro) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles
1. Meyer/Ruckelshausen (Metro) def. Rodgers/Soster, 8-1
2. Francis/Tomlin (AF) def. Faustino/Campbell, 8-5
3. Buckingham/Ferry (AF) def. Howard/Lupo, 8-5

Air Force 7, Colorado College 0

Singles
1. Austin Francis (AFA) def. Brian Thirkell, 6-0, 6-1
2. James Tomlin (AFA) def. Thomas Modern, 6-3, 6-2
3. Taylor Soster (AFA) def. Sam Barnard, 6-0, 6-3
4. Alex Beaussart (AFA) def. Nick Kreczko, 6-3, 6-2
5. Kyle Epperson (AFA) def. Evan Jonker, 6-0, 6-2
6. Harrison Maloy (AFA) def. Micky Shaked, 6-1, 6-3

Doubles
1. Rodgers/Soster (AFA) def. Thirkell/Modern, 8-2
2. Barnard/Shaked (CC) def. Beaussart/Johnny Buckingham, 8-7
3. Maloy/Greg Ferry (AFA) def. Kreczko/Jonker, 8-4