NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers men's tennis team (6-9) looks to bounce back from a stretch of tough defeats on Friday when they host the SMU Mustangs (10-11) on Friday at the University Tennis Center. The match is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
The last outing was a 4-3 loss to New Mexico State on Monday. The Privateers won the doubles point and five of six first sets but could not prevent a late rally at flight two from the Aggies.
"I think SMU should be a good test for us," said Coach
Burzis Kanga. "I think we can be in this match. They've had a great reputation over the years but I think they're having a challenging year. Playing at home is also a big plus for us. We've been playing really well in doubles and I think if we continue with that we're capable of beating them."
The Privateers continue a home heavy finish to the regular season. Only two of their remaining seven matches will be on the road (Abilene Christian, LSU).
New Orleans continues their strong run in doubles on the season which saw two more wins added to the season total on Monday.
Johannes Klein and
Samuel Armand moved their record to 8-4 on the season.
Nicolas Kramer and
Odysseas Papaioannou won the deciding doubles match at flight three and are on a five-match winning streak.
The Privateers and Mustangs have played twice. The last meeting was in 2017, a match SMU won 4-0. The other tilt was in 2009 when SMU was nationally ranked and defeated the Privateers 6-1.
SMU opened conference play with a tough loss to nationally ranked South Florida by a 5-2 score. The Mustangs' most recent outing was even tougher, a 4-0 loss to 10
th ranked TCU. SMU has played four nationally ranked opponents this spring.
Tomas Vaise and Jan-Simon Vrbsky co-lead the team in singles wins this spring with 11 each. Vaise and Vrbksy have also combined for six wins in doubles. Carles Sarrio is the 74
th ranked singles player in the latest ITA rankings.
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