NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers men’s tennis team endured an early deficit and a tough battle as they kept their record unbeaten with a 5-2 win over the Nicholls Colonels on Wednesday at the University Tennis Center.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Privateers had to bounce back after Nicholls won the doubles point. The Privateers dominated with Akos Kotorman and Max Heinzel winning 6-0.
At the other two courts, Nicholls was serving for the match on both, leading 5-4. Both Privateer doubles teams responded by breaking serve to extend the matches at flight two and three. However, the Colonels prevailed in a tiebreak at flight two and 7-5 at three to earn the opening point of the day.
Though the Privateers won the day by winning five of six singles matches, there were several difficult battles. Four of the six matches extended to three sets but the Privateers came out victorious in three of those matches.
Espen Lagarde and Luke Joujan were first off the court after straight set wins at flight four and six respectively. Then David Tesic rallied back from down a set to take his match 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. The clinching point came from Marcel Volz at flight one.
In the third set, Volz was up a double break but Omar Morsy got one of those back to cut the lead to 5-3. However, Volz returned the favor and broke Morsy’s serve to put the finishing touches on the Privateers’ 6-0 start. Minutes later, Heinzel followed with a three-set victory of his own to earn the final point of the day for the home side.
FROM COACH KANGA
“This is a resilient group and they have the toughness to be a championship team. We struggled in doubles but across the board in singles these guys were ready to play. This is a talented group of players and I don’t put anything past them.”
“The scores are very reflective of what happened today. This is a much improved Nicholls team and they were ready for the battle. Give credit to them, they have a good team. We just played a little better when it counted.”
NEXT UP
The Privateers will host Loyola on Thursday at the University Tennis Center. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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