Men's Tennis Drops Competitive Match To Southern Miss

BOX SCORE (PDF)

NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans men's tennis team hosted the University of Southern Mississippi on Saturday afternoon, losing 5-2 in a competitive match.

In total, four of the six singles matches went into a third set, with Southern Miss (4-1) taking three of those decisions.

"This was probably the best I've ever seen our team play against Southern Miss", head coach Burzis Kanga said. "We needed that doubles point, Southern Miss took it and carried that momentum into singles play. I think we could have won this match, I'm proud of how we played but I think there are still some areas we need to improve on before our conference opener next week."

In doubles play, New Orleans (2-1) won the first match on court three as senior Luis Albuquerque and junior Giacomo Adoncecchi won 6-1 over Mikhail Esipov and Rakshit Rishi. Southern Miss evened up doubles play with a 6-4 victory at the second position, making the top flight the decider for the point. Sophomore Jeffrey Hsu and junior Federico Boscarino put forth a valiant effort against Southern Miss's top duo, but came up just short 7-5.

Hsu wasted no time in getting his vengeance over Daniel Merker, who was a part of USM's top doubles pair, beating his Golden Eagle counterpart 6-1 in the opening set of singles play with a 7-5 score in the Privateers' favor in the second set to win at the top flight.

Southern Miss pushed the lead to 3-1 overall with a 6-3, 6-4 win on court five and a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 score at the fourth position before Boscarino recovered from a crushing 6-7 defeat in the opening set at the second slot to win the next two 6-4, 6-3. The visitors clinched the victory with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win on court six, adding a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 result at the third flight.

The Privateers are back in action on Friday, Feb. 17 when they host Nicholls in their Southland Conference opener at 2 p.m.
 
Southern Miss 5, New Orleans 2
 
Doubles
1. Jorman Reyes/Daniel Merker (USM) def. Jeffrey Hsu/Federico Boscarino (UNO) 7-5
2. Chao-Yu Huang/Wen-Po Tseng (USM) def. Nicolas Kramer/Federico Staksrud (UNO) 6-4
3. Luis Albuquerque/Giacomo Adoncecchi (UNO) def. Mikhail Esipov/Rakshit Rishi (USM) 6-1
 
Singles
1. Jeffrey Hsu (UNO) def. Daniel Merker (USM) 6-1, 7-5
2. Federico Boscarino (UNO) def. Wen-Po Tseng (USM) 6-7, 6-4, 6-3
3. Jorman Reyes (USM) def. Federico Staksrud (UNO) 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
4. Chao-Yu Huang (USM) def. Nicolas Kramer (UNO) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
5. Rakshit Rishi (USM) def. Luis Albuquerque (UNO) 6-3, 6-4
6. Teeradon Tortrakul (USM) def. Giacomo Adoncecchi (UNO) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2