Papaioannou Wins First Collegiate Tournament to Lead Men's Tennis

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Freshman, Odysseas Papaioannou took flight three singles and two other Privateers in Mats Westkamp and Misha Fomenkov made the final of their respective flights for the New Orleans Privateers men's tennis team at the West Florida Invitational.
 
In flight three, Papaioannou built upon a solid debut in singles. He breezed through his first two matches in straight sets, beating Lukas Zarvel of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Sam Marin (Loyola). He won a first set tiebreak in the semis before his opponent retired from the match.
 
Once in the final, Papaioannou gutted out a 7-6, 7-5 victory over William Shkrob of West Florida to earn his first collegiate tournament win.

"I thought across the board that this was the best performance we've had," said Coach Burzis Kanga. "West Florida is usually near the top in the nation in Division II. I think we have a lot to learn as a team and we're going to get better from this event, but we had a great tournament."
 
In the top flight, Westkamp was tested early. He won his opening match in three sets and earned a quarterfinal win in similar fashion. In the quarters, Westkamp had to rally from losing a first set tiebreak. Westkamp made his way to the final after a semifinal victory on Sunday against Serdar Bojadjiev.
 
On the opposite side of the bracket, Klein had to rally against Oleksandr Podgursky of Nicholls. After losing the first set, Klein swept the second set at 6-0 and won the third set 10-6 to advance to the semifinals. Podgursky played at flight one in the Scramble on the Bayou for the Colonels.
 
Fomenkov had a couple of long matches of his own. In the quarters, Fomenkov was pushed beyond the 10-point tiebreak but prevailed 12-10 to advance to the semis. There, he knocked off Cristobal Quevedo (ABAC) 10-7 in the third set to advance to the final where he lost another tough match in a tiebreak.
 
The Privateers will participate in the Samford Invitational next which starts on Friday, Nov. 9.
 
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