Tulane University
Arizona
No. 33 MTN Earns Balanced 4-1 Win vs. Arizona
Feb 26, 2016 | Men's Tennis
NEW ORLEANS - Benefitting from a strong day from the middle of their singles lineup, the No. 33 Tulane men's tennis team (6-3) rolled past Arizona (5-3) on Friday at the City Park Pepsi Tennis Center, via the score of 4-1. Thus, the Green Wave continued their strong start to matches played at home this season, improving to 4-1.
"Arizona was really solid and we knew the personnel they had, which is obviously led by some great coaches," Tulane men's tennis head coach Mark Booras said. "It was an extremely competitive match and our guys stepped up to the challenge today. In singles, it was really nice to see some of the other guys step up first and be that first point off."
The Olive and Blue once again stood tall in doubles, continuing their undefeated streak in said category. Ian and Alex Van Cott started it off by defeating Shoki Kasahara and Jason Jaruvang, 6-2, on court three. The dominant No. 27 ranked pair of Dominik Koepfer and Jao followed suit soon after, dispatching Will Kneale and Oliver Plaskett, 6-3, on court one to give the Olive and Blue the 1-0 lead.
Meanwhile, court two's match went unfinished as Schmitz's and Rey's comeback was cut short against Naoki Takeda and Will Adkisson. The Tulane duo were trailing 3-1 before tying it up at 4-4.
In singles, Arizona's Kneale quickly countered by tying up the match at 1-1 with a court four 6-1, 6-2, victory. After that, it was all Green Wave though, as Jao earned a victory against Trent Botha on court five 6-1, 6-3, followed by Schmitz holding off Jaruvang on court two to win 6-4, 6-2.
Next, Rey earned the clinching point for the Wave, as he took down Harry Busby on court three 7-5, 6-3, to give Tulane a 4-1 victory over the Wildcats.
No. 1 Koepfer had his hands full on court one in the first set, as No. 96 Takeda took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker. Yet, Koepfer fought back to take the opening set 7-6 (6), before his match ended at 2-2 in the second set. Finally, Nikolas Tukic's match also went unfinished today against Plaskett on court six. The two were heading into a third set after Plaskett took set one, 6-1, followed by a 6-4 Tukic set two.
Up next, Tulane squares off with its first fellow American Athletic Conference opponent of the year in UCF (4-4) on Sunday. That match will commence at 1 p.m. CT.
"We got our first conference match of the year on Sunday in UCF," Booras stated. "They're the same type of team as Arizona. They're going to be gritty and they're going to be hungry. These conference matches mean everything."
GREEN WAVE RESULTS
#33 Tulane 4, Arizona 1
Singles competition - 4, 5, 2, 3
1. #1 Dominik Koepfer (TLN) vs. #96 Naoki Takeda (ARIZ) 7-6 (8-6), 2-2, unfinished
2. Constantin Schmitz (TLN) def. Jason Jaruvang (ARIZ) 6-4, 6-2
3. Sebastian Rey (TLN) def. Harry Busby (ARIZ) 7-5, 6-3
4. Will Kneale (ARIZ) def. Alex Van Cott (TLN) 6-1, 6-2
5. Chi-Shan Jao (TLN) def. Trent Botha (ARIZ) 6-1, 6-3
6. Nikolas Tukic (TLN) vs. Oliver Plaskett (ARIZ) 1-6, 6-4, unfinished
Doubles competition - 3, 1
1. #27 Chi-Shan Jao/Dominik Koepfer (TLN) def. Will Kneale/Oliver Plaskett (ARIZ) 6-3
2. Constantin Schmitz/Sebastian Rey (TLN) vs. Naoki Takeda/Will Adkisson (ARIZ) 4-4, unfinished
3. Alex Van Cott/Ian Van Cott (TLN) def. Shoki Kasahara/Jason Jaruvang (ARIZ) 6-2
Players Mentioned
