NEW ORLEANS – Down to five players and down a point before the match started, the New Orleans Privateers men's tennis team (6-13, 0-3) put forth a strong performance in doubles but it wasn't enough in a 4-3 loss to the defending regular season Southland champion UIW Cardinals (10-8, 2-0) on Thursday at the Hilton Riverside.
Moved to indoor courts because of rain during the day, New Orleans got off to a smashing beginning, winning both doubles matches.
Mats Westkamp and
Misha Fomenkov won 6-3 at flight one while
Samuel Armand and
Johannes Klein won by the same score at flight two. That secured the point and leveled the match at 1-1.
In singles, the Cardinals struck first. Sebastian Mortier won his match in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to give UIW the overall lead back. Shortly after, Fomenkov put the Privateers back on even terms with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Gabriel Evans.
Oliver Valentinsson locked up the Cardinals' third point of the night at flight four with a straight set victory. The Privateers had one more rally attempt that fell just shy.
Johannes Klein tied the match at 3-3 in comeback fashion. Klein lost the first set 6-3 but came back to dominate the next two sets by two service breaks each. The deciding match came down to flight five.
Caleb Dyer won a down to the wire first set in a tiebreak and that set up a 6-3 win in set two, which gave the Cardinals their 2-0 start on the season.
The Privateers remain home for their next pair of matches which take place on Wednesday, Apr. 10 and Thursday, Apr. 11. New Orleans will host Nicholls and William Carey. Both matches are slated for a 2 p.m. start.
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