BEAUMONT, Texas – The New Orleans men's tennis team will play for a Southland Conference championship on Sunday after defeating Nicholls State 4-2 in a semifinal dual at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center on Saturday.
The second-seeded UNO (11-10) will face off with top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Sunday's 11 a.m. championship match. TAMU-CC defeated host Lamar 4-0 in Saturday's other semifinal.
“I have not been this happy in a long, long time, “said UNO head coach
Burzis Kanga. “We knew coming in that today would be a dogfight, that it would be tough and our student-athletes had to be ready to play.”
Hossam Meligy was tabbed the 'Most Valuable Player' by the head coach following his clinching win at the No. 5 singles' court. An All-Southland second team selection in singles', Meligy prevailed over Roy Knight 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 to close out the Privateer victory..
Earlier in the dual, Meligy partnered with
Ricardo Campos to provide UNO momentum with an 8-4 doubles' win at the No. 1 court.
Vinay Kamineni and
Abdelrahman Zaki won by an 8-6 score at the No. 2 position to secure the doubles' point and send UNO into singles' play with a 1-0 advantage.
In singles', NSU (8-11) and the Privateers split the first four matches off the court. The Colonels' lone victories came at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions while UNO registered positive results at the No. 4 and No. 6 courts.
Lovro Curcija was the first to pick up a win, dispatching Jeoffrey Noblecourt 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 6 position before Zaki registered a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 4 against Evan Karatzas, setting the stage for his fellow Egyptian Meligy..
“We played a very tough Nicholls team and we had a lot of guys who fought really well today,” said Kanga. “We need to move on as we have a great opportunity tomorrow.”
“As a team, we cannot be satisfied with this result and we have to go for the whole thing. This was a big win for our program and the support of our University is why we are in this position today.”
UNO previously lost to its conference championship match foe TAMU-CC by a 5-1 score on Mar. 27, 2013 at a neutral site in San Antonio, Texas. Sunday's dual will feature a different look as the previous encounter between the squads did not include doubles' play and the Privateer lineup lacked both Kamineni and Curcija.
Fans are encouraged to check out the UNO Twitter account (@UNOPrivateers) for in-match updates on Sunday.
NOTES
UNO improved to 11-0 on the season when winning the doubles' point… UNO's championship match appearance is the program's first since a 2003 runner-up showing in the Sun Belt Conference tournament…The victory over NSU was the Privateers' first in the postseason since Apr. 24, 2004 when UNO defeated eighth-seeded Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt Conference tournament…
Vinay Kamineni led his second set tiebreaker 6-2 before play was concluded. Kamineni entered play with the team's longest winning streak at five straight singles' matches. He'll carry the streak into Sunday's championship match.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE MEN'S TENNIS TOURNAMENT BRACKET
(all matches to be held at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center in Beaumont, Texas)
Saturday, Apr. 27, 2013
#1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-0 #4 Lamar (Lamar eliminated)
#2 NEW ORLEANS 4-2 #3 Nicholls State (Nicholls eliminated)
Sunday, Apr. 28, 2013 – 11 a.m.
Championship Match – #1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. #2 NEW ORLEANS
Winner receives automatic bid to NCAA Division I Tournament
SATURDAY'S SEMIFINAL RESULTS
New Orleans 4, Nicholls 2
4/27/2013 at Beaumont, Texas (Beaumont Municipal Tennis Ctr)
Singles competition
1. Damian Despotovski (NICM) def.
Rui Silva (UNO) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
2. Dmitry Kozionov (NICM) def.
Ricardo Campos (UNO) 6-1, 6-0
3.
Vinay Kamineni (UNO) vs. Nico Mertens (NICM) 4-6, 6-6, unfinished
4.
Abdelrahman Zaki (UNO) def. Evan Karatzas (NICM) 6-4, 6-1
5.
Hossam Meligy (UNO) def. Roy Knight (NICM) 6-3, 6-7, 6-4
6.
Lovro Curcija (UNO) def. Jeoffrey Noblecourt (NICM) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition
1.
Ricardo Campos/
Hossam Meligy (UNO) def. Damian Despotovski/Nico Mertens (NICM) 8-4
2.
Vinay Kamineni/
Abdelrahman Zaki (UNO) def. Dmitry Kozionov/Jeoffrey Noblecourt (NICM) 8-6
3.
Rui Silva/
David Malmgren (UNO) vs. Roy Knight/Evan Karatzas (NICM) 7-8, unfinished
Match Notes
Nicholls 8-11
New Orleans 11-10
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (2,6,4,1,5)
Southland Conference Semifinal #2
