NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers men's and women's tennis teams both scored victories against the Norfolk State Spartans on Monday. The women got a clutch win from
Naila Krifa to clinch a 4-3 win while the men rallied from down a point early to win 5-2.
WOMEN'S RECAP
Krifa played two long sets and after taking a first set tiebreak, she lost the second set 7-5. Krifa settled into what was a back-and-forth 10-point tiebreak and she won the last three points to give New Orleans their sixth win of the season.
The Privateers started the day with a key doubles point.
Nouray Khaled served an ace to keep the Privateers on serve at flight on and it was her and
Kateryna Kalistratova's match that went to a deciding tiebreak. Khaled and Kalistratova pulled through in the tiebreak by getting out to a 6-1 lead before clinching it 7-3.
Fleur Sprengers and
Danique Vermue also won 6-2 at flight two.
The Privateers also got singles wins from Sprengers and Khaled. Sprengers was in control throughout the opening set and recovered from falling behind by an early service break in the second set to win 6-3, 6-3.
Khaled held off a belated charge in the first set but lost the second set by a double break. Khaled rebounded though to take the third set and win her match 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to set up the match clinching point.
MEN'S RECAP
Norfolk State got wins at flight one (6-4) and flight three (6-0) to take the doubles point that started the afternoon.
The guys came back with fire in singles though as they posted the first three wins to put themselves on the brink of victory.
Jacob Rouleau-Mailly was dominant throughout as he won 6-2, 6-1 at flight one to give the Privateers their first point.
Peter Kieslinger picked up his first singles win in a Privateer uniform. He won the last five games of the first set and took his match 6-2, 6-3.
Carlos Melgosa posted the next win on the board after he persevered through two tough sets. On match point an overrule on a line call led to a service break that tied the set at 5-5. Unrattled, Melgosa came back to notch a break and a service hold as he won his match 6-4, 7-5.
Beltran Fernandez came up with the clinching point at flight two. He lost the first set by a double break but pushed through in the second and dominated in the third on his way to a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 win.
Evgenios Vasilakis also won his match after coming through a critical second set tiebreak. That set up a 10-point tiebreak that Vasilakis controlled, winning 10-5.
NEXT UP
The Privateer men will play on Tuesday against College of Charleston. The women are back in action on Mar. 7 at Northwestern State.
BLUES ON TUES. NEWSLETTER
To keep up with all athletics news at the University of New Orleans, subscribe
here for our weekly newsletter.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow
@PrivateersTN on X
@PrivateersTN on Instagram, like
Privateers Tennis on Facebook and subscribe to the
UNOPrivateers YouTube channel.
