No. 31 Men's Tennis Upsets No. 15 Texas, 4-0

Thursday, March 29

Austin, Texas

6 PM

Tulane University

#15 Texas

Photo by: Parker Waters

Mar 29, 2018 | Men's Tennis

AUSTIN, Texas - Last season was a long time ago, but the memories of how it ended in the NCAA Tournament's second round remained with the Tulane men's tennis program. The Green Wave took full advantage of their chance to avenge last year's defeat in Austin by upsetting the 15th-ranked Longhorns, 4-0, on their home courts Thursday evening.

"What a great win for our program," head coach and director of tennis Mark Booras said. "Coach (Michael) Center and Coach (Bruce) Berque always put together a tough team and we knew we would have our hands full on the road. From start to finish, our boys were focused and never backed down. They were pushed at every position but stepped up to the challenges in front of them."

Tulane (13-6) found itself in an extremely intense battle with Texas (12-4) from the very first serves of doubles action, as none of the scores grew larger than one game apart until the latter parts of the contests. The first breakthrough came from the No. 2 spot where Tyler Schick and Hamish Stewart broke free late to earn a 6-4 victory and put Tulane in the driver's seat.

The final two matches advanced into respective tiebreakers with the scores tied 6-6, but Constantin Schmitz and Ewan Moore built an early 5-2 advantage over the nation's No. 4 tandem of Leonardo Telles and Rodrigo Banzer. Texas pulled within 6-5 and held serve, but a double fault gave Schmitz and Moore the upset victory, their sixth consecutive win and the Wave a 1-0 advantage in the match.

Tulane maintained its momentum as action broke off into singles, earning early breaks on multiple courts. The Green Wave claimed the first set on four courts, before Luis Erlenbusch closed out a convincing, upset victory of his own the No. 4 position over the 89th-ranked Telles, 6-1, 6-3, to push the lead to 2-0 in the overall match.

The Longhorns showed resistance however, claiming a pair of second set wins on two of those four courts the Wave earned first sets on to force third frames and keep the window open for a comeback. Ranked 92nd nationally, Moore finished off 110th-ranked Christian Sigsgaard, 7-6, 6-4, from the No. 2 position to increase Tulane's advantage to 3-0.

With four matches locked into third sets, the 19th-ranked Schmitz reclaimed control of his No. 1 singles match against 60th-ranked Yuya Ito after dropping the first set, 6-3, to win the final two by the same counts, respectively, and clinch the Green Wave's shutout. The win was Schmitz's eighth in a row and 10th over a ranked opponent this season.

"I'm so proud of the way they fought, believed and represented Tulane University today."

Tulane returns home for its final two matches of the regular season beginning Saturday, April 7 at noon against Rice, before hosting American Athletic Conference foe USF the following day at 1 p.m.

#31 Tulane 4, #15 Texas 0

Singles competition
1. #19 Constantin Schmitz (TLN) def. #60 Yuya Ito (UT) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. #92 Ewan Moore (TLN) def. #110 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
3. #70 Harrison Scott (UT) vs. Hamish Stewart (TLN) 3-6, 6-4, 4-2, unfinished
4. Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) def. #89 Leonardo Telles (UT) 6-1, 6-3
5. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) vs. Tyler Schick (TLN) 4-6, 6-4, 1-2, unfinished
6. Adrian Ortiz (UT) vs. Tim Ruetzel (TLN) 6-3, 4-6, 2-4, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Constantin Schmitz/Ewan Moore (TLN) def. #4 Leonardo Telles/Rodrigo Banzer (UT) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Hamish Stewart/Tyler Schick (TLN) def. Christian Sigsgaard/Adrian Ortiz (UT) 6-4
3. Yuya Ito/Colin Markes (UT) vs. Luis Erlenbusch/Tim Ruetzel (TLN) 6-6 (6-3), unfinished

Match Notes:
Tulane 13-6; National ranking #31
Texas 12-4; National ranking #15
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (4,2,1)
T-2:48