NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers men's tennis team began their 2023 campaign in style with a 7-0 victory over the North Alabama Lions on Friday afternoon at the Privateer Tennis Center.
The defending Southland champions separated themselves starting in doubles.
Karim Al-Amin and
Matthew Armbruster pulled away in the middle of the set to a 6-3 win on court three. Then,
Max Heinzel and
Luke Joujan took care of the rest.
Heinzel and Joujan won the last four games to put the finishing touches on the first point of the day.
Espen Lagarde and
Marcel Volz were also on the brink of victory, leading 5-2 when the point was decided.
The first three courts showed their strength to quickly seal the decision in the Privateers' favor. Al-Amin fended off Nazar Fedoryshyn in the second set of a 6-1, 6-4 victory. Heinzel earned the next point with two breaks in the first set of a 6-2, 6-3 win.
The match was sealed with Volz who had to outlast Carlos Matarredona in a second set tiebreak. Volz gained early momentum with a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak and won the tiebreak 7-4 to finish off the straight set victory.
Lilian Dubois tried to rally from two breaks down in the first set but was staved off by Jamie Bixby. The freshman came right back though with the first four games in hand in the second set. In a third set super tiebreak, Dubois won the race to 10 and earned his first singles dual win as a Privateer.
Armbruster finished off the sweep. Chris Zhang saved a match point in the second set and extended the match to a third but Armbruster came back with a resolute final set in a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will travel to San Antonio for two matches next week. New Orleans faces UTSA on Friday, Feb. 3 and UC-Santa Barbara on Feb. 4.
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