BATON ROUGE, La. –
Espen Lagarde and
Misha Fomenkov each picked up singles wins but the New Orleans Privateers (0-1) were defeated by a 4-2 score in their season opener against the Rice Owls on Sunday at the LSU Tennis Complex.
HIGHLIGHTS
Lagarde outlasted Mohamed Abdel-Aziz in a first set tiebreak to set the tone at flight three. Lagarde marched on from there to gain a win by a double break in the second set at 6-1 to give the Privateers their second point.
The first came from Fomenkov at flight five. Fomenkov cruised to a straight set win by a 6-2, 6-3 score line against Wes Barnett. With those two points in hand, the Privateers leveled the score of the match at 2-2 before Rice surged ahead for good.
HOW IT FINISHED
The Owls won ensuing matches at flight four and the clincher at flight one. Campbell Salmon earned a 6-3, 6-3 win to put the Owls ahead.
The last point was won as Sumit Sarkar took a grueling match against
Max Heinzel that went three sets. Sarkar won the final set 7-5 to seal the victory for the Owls. Rice had wins at flight one and three doubles to start the day.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will be at home on Sunday, Feb. 7 when they face North Dakota. The match is set for a 12 p.m. start.
