New Orleans - The New Orleans Privateers men's tennis team (2-1) will have a two-match weekend when they face Liberty and Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. The Privateers will take on Liberty on Friday at 1 p.m. and Florida State on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.
New Orleans is coming off a home victory against Alcorn State on Monday. The Privateers lost the doubles point, but rallied back and won singles in emphatic fashion, taking five of the six matches for a 5-2 victory.
"I think we're going to have a good weekend competition wise," said Coach
Burzis Kanga. "This is the kind of tennis we need to play to get us prepared for conference and the guys are looking forward to this opportunity."
The Privateers will not have
Federico Boscarino this weekend. Boscarino also missed the Alcorn State match due to injury. With Boscarino out of the lineup,
Alexis Guedy will play at the top spot in singles as was the case on Monday.
Liberty is 3-5 heading into this weekend. The Flames' last match was a 6-1 loss at Virginia on Feb. 11. Liberty owns victories over North Carolina A&T, Kennesaw State, and USC Upstate. Individually, Eddie Gutierrez and Sam Matheson each own four singles victories in spring. Gutierrez also notched 10 victories in fall tournaments.
Florida State offers the toughest test yet this spring for the Privateers. The Seminoles are ranked 16
th in the latest rankings according to ITA. Guy Iradukunda is ranked 12
th individually in singles and Lucas Poullain checks in at 53
rd.
Iradukunda is unblemished (11-0) in singles play this spring for the Seminoles who are 12-1 in 2018. Poullain is 8-1 this spring, playing between the two and three spot in Florida State's rotation. The Seminoles' only loss this spring so far is to 11
th ranked Baylor.
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