Men’s Tennis Moves on to Second Round of NCAA Championships

Friday, May 12

Austin, Texas

10 am CT

Tulane University

#49 Washington

Photo by: Ben Solomon

Men’s Tennis Moves on to Second Round of NCAA Championships

May 12, 2017 | Men's Tennis

Green Wave defeat Washington, 4-2

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AUSTIN – Survive and advance is the name of the game for the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships, as the No. 29 nationally ranked Tulane men's tennis team did just that in the opening round of the Austin Regional on Friday. The Green Wave (19-5) moved onto the second round with a 4-2 victory over No. 49 Washington (12-12), in a match that waged for over three-and-a-half hours.

"What a great job by Washington today, really taking it to us in doubles and singles. Our guys responded well and it was a really great college tennis match," Tulane head coach Mark Booras said. "Came down to the end there on courts one and two, and I was excited with how our guys dealt with the pressure, the situation, the environmental aspect with the wind, the battles and how they ultimately came out victorious."

The doubles point came down to court one where the 70^th ranked pair of Sebastian Rey and Chi-Shan Jao found themselves up 5-4 over Piers Foley and Jake Douglas. However, the Washington duo rallied to take a 6-5 lead before Tulane fought back to force a tiebreak. There, Rey and Jao surged ahead for the 7-2 clinch, handing the Wave a 1-0 lead.

Next, the Huskies went on to claim a momentary 2-1 lead over the Wave after straight-set victories on courts five and four. However, it was Tulane's two seniors that got the Wave back on track, starting with Jao's 6-4, 6-4, win on court six.

Then, Rey gave Tulane a 3-2 lead, gutting out a 7-6(4) first set win before finishing off Gal Hakak 6-4 in the second. Yet Washington continued to battle, forcing third sets on the remaining two courts.

Next, it was one of Tulane's freshmen who answered the call. Tied at 5-5 in the third against No. 100 Mitch Stewart, Ewan Moore pushed ahead to clinch 7-5, picking up his fourth ranked win on the year.

Up next, the Olive and Blue will challenge host and No. 10 seed Texas (20-8), who bested Presbyterian in the afternoon via a 4-0 sweep. Tulane will be playing for its first Round of 16 appearance since 2003.

GREEN WAVE RESULTS
#29 Tulane 4, #49 Washington 2
Singles competition – 5, 4, 6, 3, 2
1. #18 Constantin Schmitz (TLN) vs. Jake Douglas (UW) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 3-2, unfinished
2. Ewan Moore (TLN) def. #100 Mitch Stewart (UW) 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 7-5
3. #117 Sebastian Rey (TLN) def. Gal Hakak (UW) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
4. Enzo Sommer (UW) def. Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) 7-5, 6-4
5. Amit Batta (UW) def. Tyler Schick (TLN) 6-2, 6-3
6. Chi-Shan Jao (TLN) def. Piers Foley (UW) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition – 2, 3, 1
1. #70 Sebastian Rey/Chi-Shan Jao (TLN) def. Jake Douglas/Piers Foley (UW) 7-6 (7-2)
2. Kawika Lam/Enzo Sommer (UW) def. Tyler Schick/Ewan Moore (TLN) 6-4
3. Constantin Schmitz/Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) def. Amit Batta/Wendell Watanabe (UW) 6-4