Tulane University
ITA All-American Qualifying
Koepfer Earns First Round Win at ITA All-American Qualifying
Sep 29, 2014 | Men's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. - Tulane men's tennis junior Dominik Koepfer, the 98th ranked singles player in the nation by the ITA, earned a first-round win at the 2014 ITA All-American Qualifying held on Monday at Tulsa University's Case Tennis Center.
Koepfer came from behind after being down a set to Florida State's Cristian Gonzalez Mendez , the 103rd ranked player by the ITA, and claimed the final two sets for the, 3-6 6-3 6-4, victory. The Green Wave junior will face 56th-ranked George Goldhoff of Texas in the second round on Tuesday morning.
"Dominik did a great job of competing today against a very strong opponent," Tulane head coach Mark Booras said. "Cristian has been a top player for Florida State for his whole career and as a senior has a ton of match experience under his belt. He plays a very offensive type game with a huge serve and huge forehand. It seemed like Dominik was just defending balls for the whole match, and it could have been a quick loss with the way Cristian never took his foot off the gas, but Dominik stayed patient and found his groove in the middle of the second set and was able to turn the match around.
"I was real pleased with how he kept his composure after being down a set real quick in the beginning," added Booras. "He has shown some more maturity in that area and that's something that will help him to be more successful as he faces much bigger competition this year."
In addition to playing the second round in singles on Tuesday, Koepfer will team-up with doubles partner Chi-Shan Jao for the first round of the ITA All-American Doubles Qualifying. The pair is ranked 30th in the nation.
Players Mentioned
