HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The New Orleans Privateers men's tennis team won six of 10 singles matches in what Coach
Burzis Kanga tabbed as an overall positive day at the USM Invitational on Friday.
Misha Fomenkov,
Johannes Klein, and
Espen Lagarde each won two matches on the day. Fomenkov and Klein teamed up for a doubles victory against South Alabama.
DOUBLES VS. SOUTH ALABAMA
The day started with Klein and Fomenkov winning a doubles match that went to a tiebreak. Playing to eight games, there was no difference in the first seven between the Privateers duo and the Jaguars' tandem of Martin Bugaj and Leon Pet'ko. The tiebreak score was 7-4 in favor of Klein and Fomenkov.
The other two matches were won by South Alabama by an 8-6 margin at flight three and an 8-4 score at flight one.
SINGLES VS. UAB/ALABAMA
New Orleans then turned to singles play against a combination of players from Alabama and UAB. The Privateers had a full lineup of six and four won their respective matches.
Westkamp was the first of the bunch to finish as he defeated Alabama senior, Alexey Nesterov in straight sets (7-5, 6-3). Nesterov was coming off a win in the Houndstooth Division at the Four-in-the-Fall Championships where he bested competitors from Georgia, Ole Miss, UAB, and Oklahoma.
Also turning in a win was Fomenkov who continued his solid start to the fall. He defeated UAB's Tom El Safadi 6-2, 7-5 at flight three.
Austin Vos came back from down a set for his singles win in the afternoon against UAB senior, Giovani Pasini. Vos rallied from being on the short end of a 7-5 score in the first set to take the second set 6-3. He then went on to win the 10-point tiebreak third set at 10-4.
Espen Lagarde also had a singles straight set victory against UAB. The freshman beat Parker Bradbary 6-3, 6-4.
SINGLES VS. USM/WILLIAM CAREY
Malte Steingass made his Privateer debut in singles and Lagarde notched yet another win on the day. The five and six spots were vacant so only four singles matches took place in the last session of the first day.
Lagarde came back from losing the first set by a break (6-4) to dominate the second and set up a 10-point tiebreak against William Carey's Juan Pinilla. Lagarde persevered 10-7 to seal his match at flight three.
Also, Klein pushed his way to a straight set victory over William Carey's Dominik Fritsche in straight sets (7-5, 6-4).
NEXT UP
The Privateers finish their stay in Hattiesburg with three more sessions on Sunday. The action gets going with doubles vs. UAB at 10 a.m.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow
@PrivateersTN on Twitter,
@UNOPrivateers on Instagram, like
/NewOrleansTennis on Facebook and subscribe to the
PrivateerAthletics YouTube channel.
