NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers men's and women's tennis teams will head to separate venues for the ITA Southern Regionals beginning on Thursday. The women will make the short trip to Baton Rouge while the men travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
The Privateers have four student-athletes in the main draw:
Tristanne Dechoux,
Anastassia Kouchnareva,
Diane Bredberg Canizares and
Laurie Barendse. Also,
Raluca Puscas is in the qualifying draw where she will play Momoko Yoshimura of Louisiana. There are three rounds of the qualifying draw that will determine the final eight slots of the main draw.
Two doubles teams are in the qualifying draw: Dechoux and
Ksenia Reznitskaya form one tandem while Bredberg and Puscas will have another tandem in the qualifying draw. Barendse and Kouchnareva are already slotted in the main draw of the tournament.
Schools that are participating in the tournament include the likes of LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Louisiana, UAB, Jacksonville State, ULM, Troy, Tulane, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State and Ole Miss along with Southland foes, Northwestern State and McNeese.
The Privateers won five of six doubles matches collectively in their dual against Nicholls last Friday at the Privateer Tennis Center. In singles, Barendse and Bredberg both went 2-0 on the day against the Colonels.
MEN'S PREVIEW
In the men's bracket,
Marcel Volz has already been slotted into the main draw. He will play Spencer Gray of Auburn in the opening round. Also,
Karim Al-Amin and
Max Heinzel have first round byes in the qualifying draw.
Matthew Armbruster,
Luke Joujan,
Lilian Dubois and
Espen Lagarde will all play in the first qualifying round on Thursday. As of Wednesday, the doubles draw was not available on the ITA website.
Last weekend against Nicholls, the men's tennis team swept singles play. Seven players went in the morning session while six played in the afternoon. Only two of the 13 matches went to a third set on the day.
The Privateer men will also play competition from most of the same schools as the women's draw. The last time the men's team played at the ITA Regionals was in the Fall of 2019.
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