Tulane University
ITA National Indoor Championships
Koepfer Reaches Third Straight Semifinal
Nov 13, 2015 | Men's Tennis
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SKILLMAN, N.J. - Tulane men's tennis standout Dominik Koepfer continued his historic fall campaign on Friday, recording back-to-back wins at the National Indoor Collegiate Championships to reach his third straight national championship tournament semifinal this fall.
"Dominik did a great job of staying focused today and executing his game plan whether he was up or down in both matches," Tulane head coach Mark Booras said. "I was especially impressed with how he kept his cool and went for his shots when he was down set point in the first set tiebreaker (5-6)."
Koepfer started his day by cruising past Wake Forest's Skander Mansouri in the Round of 16, via a 6-2, 6-2 win. Then, in the quarterfinals, the Germany native earned some redemption against Illinois' Jared Hiltzik, who previously knocked Koepfer out from the 2015 NCAA Singles Championships. This time, Koepfer turned the tables with a 7-6(6), 7-5 win.
Both Koepfer and Hiltzik held serve in the first set as the battle waged on into a tiebreak, where the two were tied at 6-6. That's when Koepfer finally broke through to take the opening set, 7-6(6). The senior then found himself down 5-3 in the second set but Koepfer dug deep and rallied to clinch it at 7-5.
"Down 3-5 in the second set, it looked like he was almost out of it as (Hiltzik) was holding serve relatively easy that set. Yet, to come back and win 7-5 against a guy with a massive serve, indoors, shows he kept on believing in his abilities and gave himself an opportunity to be successful."
To reach Sunday's final, Koepfer will have to go through Virginia Tech's Joao Monteiro, who had quite the impressive quarterfinal round after upsetting No. 1 seed Thai-Son Kwiatkowsi of Virginia, 6-1, 7-6(4).
Saturday's men's and women's singles semifinals will be broadcast by ESPN3 and WatchESPN, available at WatchESPN.com. The NIIC broadcast will feature Patrick McEnroe and Stephen Amritraj as the on-air talent. Mid-match, on-court interviews with the players will be conducted, a feature that debuted during ESPN's coverage of the 2015 US Open. Semifinal coverage gets underway at 8 a.m. CT.
Also be sure to follow Tulane men's tennis on Twitter @GreenWaveMTenn for more updates as Koepfer continues his quest for a national title.
Players Mentioned
