Men's Tennis Reaches C-USA Tournament Finals

Saturday, April 20

Louisville, KY

11 a.m.

Tulane University

Louisville (C-USA Tourney)

Michael Kogan and <br> the Green Wave will <br> look to defend its <br> C-USA title on Sunday

Apr 20, 2002 | Men's Tennis

April 20, 2002

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - Second-seeded Tulane defeated fifth-seeded Louisville 4-2 Saturday in the semifinals of the 2002 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship.

Tulane's Mattias Westerberg and Jorge Leviano outlasted Sebastian Aspillaga and Paulo Carvalho 9-8 (7-4) to clinch the doubles point. Michael Kogan and Victor Romero defeated Cody Conley and Octavian Nicodim 8-4 at No. 1 for the Green Wave's other doubles win. Louisville's Matt Mayer and Brent McCombe defeated Hannu Piiroinen and Goran Vasiljevic 8-4 at No. 2.

In singles action, Piiroinen defeated McCombe 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6 to give Tulane a 2-0 lead. Louisville's Alex Sivertsen defeated Vasiljevic 7-5, 6-1 at No. 5 to pull U of L within 2-1. Romero's 7-5, 6-2 win over Carvalho at No. 2 gave Tulane a 3-1 lead. Louisville's Matt Mayer was down 5-2 in the third set, but came back to defeat Leviano 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (11-9) at No. 4 and make the score 3-2. Kogan clinched the match with his 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 win over Conley at No. 1.

Tulane advances to the finals to play South Florida Sunday at noon at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. Louisville will play TCU in the third place match Sunday at 9:00 a.m. at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. The Green Wave have now reached the championship match for the fourth time in the last six seasons.

No. 2  TULANE           No. 5 LOUISVILLE     WINNER          SCORE1.  Michael Kogan             Cody Conley          Tulane          7-5, 2-6, 7-52.  Victor Romero             Paulo Carvalho       Tulane          7-5, 6-23.  Mattias Westerberg        Octavian Nicodim     DNF             5-7, 5-54.  Jorge Lievano             Matt Mayer           Louisville      6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (11-9)5.  Goran Vasiljevic          Alex Sivertsen       Louisville      7-5, 6-16.  Hannu Piiroinen           Brent McCombe        Tulane          6-4, 6-2

1D.  Kogan/Romero             Conley/Nicodim       Tulane          8-42D.  Piiroinen/Vasiljevic     Mayer/McCombe        Louisville      8-43D.  Westerberg/Lievano       Aspillaga/Carvalho   Tulane          9-8 (7-4)