CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – It came down to the final court where senior
Pascal Lorieul won a third set tiebreaker in a 4-3 victory for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis program over top-seeded New Orleans in the championship match of the Southland Conference Tournament on Saturday at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.
Lorieul trailed 5-4 and 6-5 in the deciding set when he battled back twice to force a tiebreaker. With the home crowd at his back, Lorieul did not drop a point in the tiebreaker and won 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0) to secure A&M-Corpus Christi's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
It marked the 32nd championship for Islanders Tennis and the 22nd for the men, who will be making their 10th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. Islanders Tennis has won seven championships in the last three seasons.
"I can't put into words the heart these guys showed today. The way they fought in front of over 400 people cheering them on every point! They just kept battling back when it looked bleak," said head coach
Steve Moore. "This is such a special team! The brotherhood, character and team unity is just so special and rare with these guys, and they really fought for each other. This team is as worthy to go to the NCAA Championships as any I've ever coached. This is a moment we'll never forget, doing this in front of this crowd, the best tennis community in the nation, the best president, athletic director and donors in the country. I just can't describe the support, love and electric environment today – it lifted our guys to victory with all their families here."
The third-seeded Islanders avenged a 4-3 defeat to the Privateers in the finals of last year's conference tournament in New Orleans. They improved to 25-5 in SLC Tournament matches under Moore.
The match got started with a hotly contested doubles point. Senior
Nathan Schwartz and freshman
Tomas Quesada Perez won 6-4 on court three to give the Islanders an early edge. Courts one and two both went into a tiebreaker and the Privateers took court two 7-6 (2).
In the deciding doubles match, Lorieul and junior
Avery Zavala saved a pair of match points and fought back to win the tiebreaker 8-6.
UNO took the first two singles matches on courts one and five to go up 2-1. The Islanders evened it 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory by Schwartz on court four.
A&M-Corpus Christi took a 3-2 edge after senior
Matthieu Peres grinded out a 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 victory on court three. Though, the Privateers again evened it 3-3 with a decision on court six.
Lorieul found himself down a set when he came back to win the second to knot it up. Lorieul then led 4-1 in the third when UNO's Karim Al-Amin reeled off the next four games to go up 5-4. Lorieul held serve twice to send it to a tiebreaker where he relentlessly charged the net and did not drop a point.
After the match, Lorieul was named the SLC Tournament MVP.
Men's tennis improved to 12-3 against UNO under Moore.
The Islanders will await their destination for the NCAA Tournament later this month.
A&M-Corpus Christi 4, New Orleans 3
Doubles Competition
1.
Pascal Lorieul and
Avery Zavala (AMCC) def. Karim Al-Amin and Espen Lagarde (UNO) 7-6 (6)
2. Max Heinzel and Luke Joujan (UNO) def.
Ulysse Bertrand and
Matthieu Peres (AMCC) 7-6 (2)
3.
Tomas Quesada Perez and
Nathan Schwartz (AMCC) def. Matthew Armbruster and Lilian Dubois (UNO) 6-4
Singles Competition
1. Max Heinzel (UNO) def.
Avery Zavala (AMCC) 6-1, 7-5
2.
Pascal Lorieul (AMCC) def. Karim Al-Amin (UNO) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0)
3.
Matthieu Peres (AMCC) def. Espen Lagarde (UNO) 6-1, 2-6, 6-1
4.
Nathan Schwartz (AMCC) def. Luke Joujan (UNO) 6-4, 6-4
5. Lilian Dubois (UNO) def.
Ulysse Bertrand (AMCC) 6-2, 6-2
6. David Tesic (UNO) def.
Lucas Schurdevin (AMCC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 15 NCAA Tournaments
- 32 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 39 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
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