March 8, 2003

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's tennis team lost 4-3 to No. 45 Florida State Saturday afternoon at Leighton Stadium in both teams' conference openers. The Seminoles swept doubles play to capture the doubles point and then split the six singles matches with the 25th-ranked Demon Deacons to hang on for a 4-3 win.

Wake Forest's three seniors won their singles matches as Trent Brendon, Mike Murray and David Bere led the Demon Deacon effort. Brendon pummeled FSU's Heiner Tadault, winning 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 singles, Murray took out Chris Westerhof in straight sets, winning 7-5, 6-0 at No. 4 and Bere rallied to defeat Alex Herera at No. 3, 3-6, 6-6 (2), 6-3.

With the match tied 3-3, Rodrigo Laub won the deciding match at No. 6 singles, beating WFU's Brett Ross 6-3, 7-5.

Wake Forest falls to 6-3, 0-1 ACC with the loss and Florida State improves to 7-5, 1-0 ACC with the win. The Demon Deacons return to action on Wednesday, March 12 when they travel to Tempe, Ariz., to take on No. 48 Arizona State.

#45 Florida State 4, #25 Wake Forest 3

Singles
1. Mat Cloer (FSU) def. #66 David Loewenthal (WFU)6-4, 7-6 (5)
2. Romain Jurd (FSU) def. Derrick Spice (WFU)7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3
3. David Bere (WFU) def. Alex Herrera (FSU) 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3
4. #124 Mike Murray (WFU) def. Chris Westerhof (FSU) 7-5, 6-0
5. Trent Brendon (WFU) def. Heiner Tadault (FSU) 6-1, 6-0
6. Rodrigo Laub (FSU) def. Brett Ross (WFU) 6-3, 7-5*

order of finish 5,4,1,2,3,6

Doubles
1. #27 Herrera/Jurd (FSU) def. #23 Loewenthal/Brendon (WFU) 9-7
2. Cloer/Laub (FSU) def. Murray/Spice (WFU) 8-6
3. Westerhof/Jeff Groslimond (FSU) def. Ross/Bere (WFU) 8-5