EDINBURG, Texas – A pair of deciding matches went in New Orleans' favor as the Privateer men's tennis team defeated Texas-Pan American 4-3 at the Orville Cox Tennis Center on Monday afternoon.
With the match all squared at 3-all, UNO (8-6, 4-0 Southland) sophomore
David Malmgren rallied from a set down to defeat Victor Alves 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 6 position.
Malmgren's win assured the Privateers of no worse than a No. 2 seed in the Southland's postseason tournament while giving UNO an opportunity to claim the league's regular season championship outright on Wednesday with a victory against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
“David played a really tough match,” said Privateer head coach
Burzis Kanga. “He was down in the first set, down in the second set and battled back each time.”
“In the third set, David finally had complete control of the match. He might be the all-time leader in winning deciding matches for us when it comes down to a 3-3 tie.”
Prior to singles' play, the Privateers received a lift in the deciding doubles' match as
Hossam Meligy and
Ricardo Campos prevailed in a 9-8 (4) tiebreaker over Alejandro Sanoja and Sebastian Job at the No. 1 court.
Abdelrahman Zaki and
Rui Silva paired for an 8-6 win at the No. 2 position as the teams split the first two doubles' matches off the court. The victories by both top UNO duos enabled the guests to receive the doubles' point, which would prove valuable as the six singles' results were divided evenly amongst the teams.
UTPA (6-12, 0-2 Southland) won the top three singles' matches with Zaki and Meligy adding to Malmgren's victory to provide the Privateers with wins at the bottom three positions.
Zaki defeated Alejando Sanoja 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 4 position for his fourth straight victory while Meligy rolled Sebastian Job 7-5, 6-2 on the No. 5 court. The Monday wins were the third in four conference matches for both seniors.
The de-facto Southland Conference match is now on tap for Wednesday at 1 p.m. in San Antonio, Texas as UNO takes on No. 58 TAMU-CC. The Islanders are the only ranked Southland squad with the Privateers attempting to complete the league slate with an unblemished record.
New Orleans 4, Texas-Pan American 3
Mar 25, 2013 at Edinburg, TX (Orville Cox Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Thomas Panoulas (UTPA) def.
Ricardo Campos (UNO) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
2. Ricardo Hopker (UTPA) def.
Rui Silva (UNO) 6-3, 6-0
3. Chetan Panditi (UTPA) def.
Guillermo Aylon (UNO) 4-3 (won by disqualification)
4.
Abdelrahman Zaki (UNO) def. Alejandro Sanoja (UTPA) 6-4, 6-3
5.
Hossam Meligy (UNO) def. Sebastien Job (UTPA) 7-5, 6-2
6.
David Malmgren (UNO) def. Victor Alves (UTPA) 5-7, 7-5, 6-3
Doubles competition
1.
Ricardo Campos/
Hossam Meligy (UNO) def. Alejandro Sanoja/Sebastien Job (UTPA) 9-8
2.
Abdelrahman Zaki/
Rui Silva (UNO) def. Chetan Panditi/Ricardo Hopker (UTPA) 8-6
3. Victor Alves/Thomas Panoulas (UTPA) def.
David Malmgren/
Guillermo Aylon (UNO) 8-3
Updated Southland Conference Standings
(league matches only, through Mar. 25)
New Orleans (4-0)
Nicholls State (2-1)
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (0-0)
Lamar (0-1)
Texas-Pan American (0-2)
Oral Roberts (0-2)
