Tulane University
East Carolina
Men's Tennis Drops Heartbreaker to ECU, 4-3
Apr 1, 2010 | Men's Tennis
April 1, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane men's tennis team dropped a heartbreaking dual match to East Carolina, 4-3, on Thursday afternoon in the Conference USA Shootout at the Goldring Tennis Center.
The Green Wave (3-12, 0-2 C-USA) fell behind by losing the doubles point to open the match, but proceeded to win three of the first four points in singles play and looked to be in good shape to earn another, but could not overcome ECU's (16-4) solid play.
"Hats off to ECU for coming back when they were down," Tulane head coach Mark Booras said. "Even though they got the doubles point they were in a tough position because we got a good start in singles and put some pressure on them. I asked the guys to come out firing and ready to go after doubles and got a great start in singles, but we were not able to close in a couple spots. If we close out the first sets on No. 2 and No. 6 then it's totally different match. The guys competed hard and fought hard and once again put ourselves in a place to be victorious and now just have to be able to execute."
Shaye Wali earned Tulane's first point by winning his singles match on court one for the second straight outing. He defeated ECU's Jaroslva Horvath, 6-3, 6-3. Rodrigo Rappaccioli gave the Green Wave a 2-1 lead in the match with a 6-2, 6-3, victory over Henrik Skalmerud on court four.
Tulane's Joe Young fell to Stephen Whitwell, 7-5, 6-4, on court two that tied the over match up at 2-2. Adam Bernstein then gave the lead back to Tulane with a 6-2, 6-3, victory over Massimo Mannino on court three.
ECU's John Schmitt's 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, victory over Coby Kramer-Golinkoff on court five knotted the match up at 3-3 before Bryan Oakley's 7-6, 6-1, victory over Trevor Getz on court six secured the victory for the Pirates.
Rappaccioli and Bernstein did pair up to win their doubles match, 8-2, over Mannino and Oakley on court two, but ECU claimed the point with wins on courts one and three.
Tulane will face Southern Miss at Noon tomorrow, while ECU will take on UAB at 9 a.m. CST to begin the second day of the C-USA Shootout at the Goldring Tennis Center.
Players Mentioned
