Tulane University
UCF
No. 3 Tulane Shutouts No. 6 UCF, 4-0
Apr 17, 2015 | Men's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. -- The No. 3-seeded Tulane men's tennis team (16-6) began its run in the American Athletic Conference Championships Friday afternoon with a 4-0 shutout vs. No. 6-seeded UCF (15-10). As a result, the Green Wave will advance to Saturday's semifinal match-up vs. the No. 2-seeded Tulsa (16-11) at 9 a.m. CT.
"It was great to see the guys come out with so much energy and focus today in doubles," Tulane head coach Mark Booras said. "Constantin (Schmitz) and Seb (Rey) did a good job of sprinting ahead to get a good lead and then finish strong to get our first doubles match. UCF stayed on us the whole time at No. 1 and 2 with the lead flip flopping a couple of times, but we executed our game plan well to pull ahead in the end."
Tulane set the tone immediately in doubles, starting with a 6-2 court three victory from Constantin Schmitz and Sebastian Rey over Francesc Aulina and Tyler Pate. Alex and Ian Van Cott then clinched the 1-0 lead on court two via a 6-3 win vs. Jesse Flores and Mariano Porter. In addition, both Green Wave tandems simultaneously improved to 9-5 in doubles this spring.
In singles, the Wave's 13th ranked player in the country, Dominik Koepfer, kept the ball rolling with a 6-2, 6-0 win on court one over Aulina, also winning his eighth straight in the process. Schmitz then followed right behind on court two with a 6-1, 6-3 victory vs. Jose Sangroniz. Finally, Rey sent the Green Wave into the semis after a 6-3, 6-2 decision vs. Chris Barrus.
Furthermore, all three Tulane competitors that recorded singles wins this afternoon are all co-win leaders right now with 15 victories each. Koepfer is 15-3, while Rey and Schmitz share a 15-5 record.
"In singles, Dominik, Constantin, Seb, and Alex did a great job setting the tone early to put us up with some first sets and then stay on them to close them out," Booras explained.
Next, in order to advance to Sunday's championship round, Tulane will simply have to repeat what it did to end the regular season, which was invade Tulsa's home courts and defeat the Golden Hurricane (4-3 win on April 4). Second-seeded Tulsa registered a 4-0 shutout vs. seventh-seeded East Carolina today.
"Tomorrow's semifinal match is going to be a real tough one," Booras added. "Tulsa has had a great season with some big wins so we know what they're capable of. We know it's going to be a massive battle and we will have to compete well throughout to give ourselves the best chance of being successful."
Green Wave Results
Doubles -- Order of finish: 3, 2
No. 1 -- Koepfer/Jao (TU) vs. Barrus/Espinolda (UCF), 5-4, unfinished
No. 2 -- A. Van Cott/I. Van Cott (TU) def. Porter/Flores (UCF), 6-3
No. 3 -- Schmitz/Rey (TU) def. Aulina/Pate (UCF), 6-2
Singles -- Order of finish: 1, 2, 4
No. 1 -- #13 Dominik Koepfer (TU) def. Kiku Aulina (UCF), 6-2, 6-0
No. 2 -- Constantin Schmitz (TU) def. Jose Sangroniz (UCF), 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 -- Alex Van Cott (TU) vs. Inaki Espinolda (UCF), 6-3, 3-3, unfinished
No. 4 -- Sebastian Rey (TU) def. Chris Barrus (UCF), 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 -- Mariano Porter (UCF) vs. Chi-Shan Jao (TU), 7-6, unfinished
No. 6 -- Jesse Flores (UCF) vs. Ian Van Cott (TU), 7-6, 1-1, unfinished
Players Mentioned
