CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men and women's tennis teams took a fight head on and came out victorious in home wins over New Orleans Saturday at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center to solidify a strong start to conference play.
Both teams are now off to an undefeated start to the SLC slate with the women (15-2, 2-0 SLC) notching their second with the 6-1 decision after a previous 4-0 victory over Southeastern. It marked the men's (14-5, 1-0 SLC) league opener, though, and it was a grueling one as they took it 5-2 in a rematch of the 2023 SLC Tournament final.
"This was big-time fighting and strong character from our Islanders today against one of our longest and most respected opponents! New Orleans is always so tough, and these matches are always such a dogfight. I felt like our girls have worked so hard and earned so much confidence over the past eight months and they really showed focus today, the senior leaders really led by example! Our men are so young and are still rowing and they really showed great maturity and mental toughness today! We challenged them to play physical and stick to our process the entire match and they really showed big hearts. I am very proud of these Islanders," said head coach
Steve Moore.
The women opened with the doubles point in the bag after seniors
Emma Aucagne/
Naomi Moi McKenzie won 6-2 at No. 1 doubles before fellow seniors
Valeria Cherfus/
Kateryna Rublevska notched a 6-3 decision at court three. Aucagne and McKenzie are now 2-0 in doubles play against conference opponents.
McKenzie then dominated No. 2 singles for a 6-1, 6-0 win. Cherfus and Rublevska also garnered their second win of the day with dual wins at singles four and five. Freshman
Ana Veroux pulled out her first SLC victory of the year with a gritty 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 tiebreak victory at court three. Sophomore
Palina Saulevich added to the Islanders triumph with a 6-0, 6-3 decision at court six.
Cherfus improves to 13-2 overall on the year and 2-0 in conference play. Rublevska is also 2-0 in SLC play with 11 overall wins as Aucagne and Veroux match her in season wins. The women are now 39-2 in SLC play at home since 2015 and are undefeated on their home court with a 41-match winning steak spanning over the last four seasons.
The men started down after dropping a tough doubles point even though senior
Avery Zavala/sophomore
Etienne Marty battled out a 7-5 win at No. 1 doubles but it was possibly the momentum builder they needed going into singles play.
Freshman
Nicolas Trebuchet evened the playing field with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 6 singles. It would be the only dual finished in straight-sets as the match-long battle extended into three-sets at every other court.
It worked in A&M-Corpus Christi's favor as the men stuck to their process to prevail at four of the remaining courts. Zavala capped a 2-0 day with a comeback 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles. Senior
Antoine Vicaire took his two sets in 6-2 decisions for the three-set victory at court five while freshman
Iannis Fernandes recouped for a 6-4, 5-6, 6-4 win at court four. Sophomore
Lucas Schurdevin then moved to a 10-point tiebreak at 1-1 and came out on top 10-6 in the third to complete the 5-2 win.
The men now hoist a 57-3 home record against conference opponents since 2007. They move to 13-3 against the Privateers under Moore.
The teams will play another doubleheader conference match at home against Nicholls on Monday. The women will start it off at 11 a.m. with the men scheduled to get going at 2:30 p.m. Both are undefeated against the Colonels under Moore, 15-0 on the women's side and 21-0 on the men's.
Women's Match – A&M-Corpus Christi 6, New Orleans 1
Doubles competition
1.
Emma Aucagne/
Naomi Moi McKenzie (AMCC-W) def. Tristanne Dechoux/Ana Kouchnareva (UNOW) 6-2
2. Ksenia Reznitskaya/Laurie Barendse (UNOW) def.
Ana Veroux/
Palina Saulevich (AMCC-W) 6-4
3.
Valeria Cherfus/
Kateryna Rublevska (AMCC-W) def. Audelia Kougoucheff/Kate Kalistratova (UNOW) 6-3
Singles competition
1. Laurie Barendse (UNOW) def.
Emma Aucagne (AMCC-W) 6-2, 3-6, 11-9
2.
Naomi Moi McKenzie (AMCC-W) def. Ana Kouchnareva (UNOW) 6-1, 6-0
3.
Ana Veroux (AMCC-W) def. Tristanne Dechoux (UNOW) 6-4, 3-6, 10-6
4.
Valeria Cherfus (AMCC-W) def. Kate Kalistratova (UNOW) 6-0, 6-2
5.
Kateryna Rublevska (AMCC-W) def. Ksenia Reznitskaya (UNOW) 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 10-2
6.
Palina Saulevich (AMCC-W) def. Audelia Kougoucheff (UNOW) 6-0, 6-3
Men's Match – A&M-Corpus Christi 5, New Orleans 2
Doubles competition
1.
Avery Zavala/
Etienne Marty (AMCC-M) def. Marc Mail/Joseph Townes (UNOM) 7-5
2. Marcel Volz/Luke Joujan (UNOM) def.
Antoine Vicaire/
Matthieu Coignet (AMCC-M) 6-2
3. Matthew Armbruster/Sergi Tintore (UNOM) def.
Lucas Schurdevin/
Nicolas Trebuchet (AMCC-M) 6-4
Singles competition
1.
Avery Zavala (AMCC-M) def. Marcel Volz (UNOM) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. Luke Joujan (UNOM) def.
Etienne Marty (AMCC-M) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
3.
Lucas Schurdevin (AMCC-M) def. Matthew Armbruster (UNOM) 7-5, 4-6, 10-6
4.
Iannis Fernandes (AMCC-M) def. Marc Mail (UNOM) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
5.
Antoine Vicaire (AMCC-M) def. Sergi Tintore (UNOM) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
6.
Nicolas Trebuchet (AMCC-M) def. Joseph Townes (UNOM) 6-3, 6-4
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 16 NCAA Tournaments
- 33 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 41 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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