NEW ORLEANS –
Luke Joujan got his freshman career off to a 2-0 start in singles but the New Orleans Privateers (1-2) fell on the short side of a 4-2 decision to the Illinois State Redbirds (6-10) on Tuesday afternoon at the University Tennis Center.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Redbirds won each match in doubles by a single break and by identical score lines of 6-4 to earn the first point of the day.
New Orleans leveled the score with the first singles match to finish.
Max Heinzel won the first five games in his opening set and the last four in the second set to coast to a 6-1, 6-2 victory and tie the score at 1-1.
The next two matches went to the Redbirds with straight set victories at flight three and five which put them on the brink of victory.
Joujan was able to secure his match first and keep the Privateers in the fight. After falling behind 6-5, Joujan broke Melker Isaksson's serve to send it to a tiebreak. After a level beginning in the break through the first five points, Joujan separated to move to 2-0 on the spring in singles.
The match was sealed at flight one for Illinois State. After
Austin Vos battled back valiantly from a set down to force a third, Nam Pham got an early service break in what was the match decider for the Redbirds.
FROM COACH KANGA
"They were ready to play us. We didn't play very well in doubles and we played against a really solid team today. Give credit where it's due and I think we need to regroup and get ready for Abilene Christian."
NEXT UP
The Privateers travel to Abilene Christian to open up conference play on Thursday, Mar. 11. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
