NEW ORLEANS – In a two-day championship match that was stopped a resumed two times, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis program dropped a 4-3 nail-biter to the host New Orleans on Monday at the University Tennis Center.
The match began at 2 p.m. Sunday and was twice halted due to rain. After sticking around the courts in hopes to finish in one day, the match was officially postponed around 9 p.m. and resumed 9:30 a.m. Monday.
No. 1 A&M-Corpus Christi (15-10) trailed 2-1 when the match started again Monday and won a pair of singles courts to go up 3-2. Though, third-seeded UNO (16-6) was able to come back in the final two matches.
"That was one of the best college tennis matches I've been a part of in a long time. Seven hours yesterday and two hours today with both teams fighting their hearts out. I have great respect for New Orleans and Coach Kanga, they played an amazing match. But I'm so proud of our guys, their heart, grit and they competed like warriors. We made the commitment to be great at two things – brothers and warriors, and our guys did that. This loss hurts so much, yet there is also pride and honor in fighting with all our hearts like that," said head coach
Steve Moore.
The match started with UNO grabbing the doubles point. The Privateers took courts one and three, but sophomores
Ryuya Ata and
Borja Delgado won 6-3 on court two.
In singles, junior
Matthieu Peres won in straight sets before the match was postponed overnight. He won 6-4, 6-3 on court three.
On day two, senior
Kyohei Yamanaka finished off his career with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory on court four which knotted up the score 2-2.
"I normally don't single out guys, but Kyohei is one of the most special Islanders we've ever had. He did everything the right way for five years! This Islander family will always remember him – Islander family always," Moore said.
A&M-Corpus Christi's third point came court two. Sophomore
Nathan Schwartz grinded out a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win.
Though, in matches that could have gone either way, the Privateers came out on top on courts one and six.
The Islanders earned the top seed of the tournament after winning the SLC regular season crown – their 21st men's championship in program history.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 14 NCAA Tournaments
- 30 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 35 Straight Semesters
- Islanders have received a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament three times
- Women's tennis has cracked the ITA top-75 national rankings three times
- Men's tennis has cracked the ITA national rankings 10 consecutive years
- Ranked nationally in NCAA DI as high as No. 35 for the men and No. 60 for the women
New Orleans 4, A&M-Corpus Christi 3
Doubles Competition
1. Espen Lagarde/Akos Kotorman (UNO) def.
Pascal Lorieul/
Nathan Schwartz (AMCC) 6-4
2.
Ryuya Ata/
Borja Delgado (AMCC) def. Max Heinzel/Luke Joujan (UNO) 6-3
3. Marcel Volz/Matthew Armbruster (UNO) def.
Ulysse Bertrand/
Guillermo Castaneda (AMCC) 6-4
Singles Competition
1. Max Heinzel (UNO) def.
Pascal Lorieul (AMCC-M) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
2.
Nathan Schwartz (AMCC-M) def. Marcel Volz (UNO) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
3.
Matthieu Peres (AMCC-M) def. Espen Lagarde (UNO) 6-4, 6-3
4.
Kyohei Yamanaka (AMCC-M) def. Luke Joujan (UNO) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
5. Akos Kotorman (UNO) def.
Ulysse Bertrand (AMCC-M) 6-3, 6-1
6. Matthew Armbruster (UNO) def.
Guillermo Castaneda (AMCC-M) 6-0, 2-6, 6-4
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