Tulane University
#42 Alabama
Men's Tennis Falls to Alabama in NCAA Tournament First Round, 4-1
May 11, 2018 | Men's Tennis
TALLAHASSEE - The No. 23 Tulane men's tennis team had its 2018 season come to an end with a 4-1 loss to No. 42 Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center on the campus of Florida State University.
The defeat marked the first time Tulane (18-7) did not advance out of the first round in its last six appearances and snapped the Green Wave's seven-match winning streak.
"Hats off to Alabama and (head coach) George Husack for doing a great job getting his team prepared and heading in the right direction at the right time of the year," head coach and director of tennis Mark Booras said. "I looked at today's matchup as a very even battle before we stepped foot on the courts. The bottom line of the match was they stepped up a little more than we did. We looked around and hoped."
Alabama (19-12) struck first in doubles, claiming a 6-3 victory from the No. 3 spot in the lineup, but the Wave's 34th-ranked duo of senior Constantin Schmitz and sophomore Ewan Moore evened things up with a 6-3 win of their own over 26th-ranked Mazen Osama and Edson Ortiz from the No. 1 position for their 10th straight win.
All attention turned to court two where junior Tyler Schick and freshman Hamish Stewart fell behind, 5-4, but Stewart fired back-to-back ace serves for the final two points in the game to level the score at five-all.
The match would advance to a 6-6 tiebreaker, as the Crimson Tide jumped out to a commanding 4-1 lead. Tulane bounced back with three straight points to tie it up, 4-4, and again at 6-6, but Alabama took three of the next four points to clinch doubles and take a 1-0 advantage in the overall match.
"We knew we had a chance heading into singles," Booras said. "To be a complete team, we need to have the discipline in doubles to go and take it when it's out in front of us."
The Green Wave claimed the first set on three singles courts, before the 113th-ranked Moore tied up the match, 1-1, with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Patrick Kaukovalta on court two. The Crimson Tide unleashed a fury after that small burst of momentum for the Wave however, winning in straight sets on courts three and five to pull ahead, 3-1, in the overall match.
As Alabama inched closer to victory, Tulane found a way to make things interesting as Schmitz forced a third set at the No. 1 spot and sophomore Tim Ruetzel fought back from an early deficit to tie up his second set, 6-6, with a 5-5 score in the tiebreaker. Sophomore Luis Erlenbusch, who earned a 6-4 first set victory on court four, dropped the second frame, 6-2, and could not hold on in the third before dropping it, 6-4, as the Crimson Tide clinched their fourth team point.
"We had our chances in both singles and doubles," Booras said. "At times, we took our foot of the gas and didn't play our game when we needed to. If you do that 98 percent of the time, you're going to be pretty good, but if you only do it 90 percent of the time, you're giving the other team an opportunity. Hopefully we learn from this experience and come back even stronger next season."
While the team portion of the season has ended, Schmitz and Moore will compete in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina beginning May 23. Schmitz has received an automatic bid and will be seeded No. 9-16 in the singles draw, while Schmitz and Moore earned an at-large selection into the doubles draw.
#42 Alabama 4, #23 Tulane 1
Singles competition
1. #15 Constantin Schmitz (TLN) vs. #10 Mazen Osama (BAMA) 5-7, 7-5, 0-1, unfinished
2. #113 Ewan Moore (TLN) def. Patrick Kaukovalta (BAMA) 6-2, 6-0
3. Thibault Cancel (BAMA) def. Hamish Stewart (TLN) 6-4, 6-2
4. Edson Ortiz (BAMA) def. Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
5. Alexey Nesterov (BAMA) def. Tyler Schick (TLN) 6-2, 6-4
6. Tim Ruetzel (TLN) vs. Zhe Zhou (BAMA) 4-6, 6-6 (5-5), unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #34 Constantin Schmitz/Ewan Moore (TLN) def. #26 Edson Ortiz/Mazen Osama (BAMA) 6-3
2. Thibault Cancel/Alexey Nesterov (BAMA) def. Tyler Schick/Hamish Stewart (TLN) 7-6 (9-7)
3. Patrick Kaukovalta/Zhe Zhou (BAMA) def. Tim Ruetzel/Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,3,5,4)
Players Mentioned
