Tulane University
#42 Alabama
No. 23 Men's Tennis Begins NCAA Tournament Journey in Tallahassee
May 9, 2018 | Men's Tennis
NCAA Tournament Program
NEW ORLEANS - The 23rd-ranked Tulane men's tennis team will begin its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament with a first round matchup against Alabama in the Tallahassee Regional on Friday, May 11. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. (CT) at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center on the campus of Florida State University.
With a victory, the Green Wave would advance to take on the winner of Florida State and Alabama State on Saturday at 3 p.m.
TULANE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Green Wave (18-6) are making their 12th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and third in as many seasons. Tulane has won its first round matchup in each of the last five tournament showings, including a 4-2 win over Washington in Austin, Texas, last season and a 4-0 blanking of Dartmouth in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 2016.
The current streak began when the Wave won three-straight first round matches from 2003-05, with their last first round defeat coming in 2002 against Washington.
AGAINST THE FIELD
This spring, Tulane played against 10 teams selected to the NCAA Tournament's 64-team field. The Green Wave went 4-6 against that list of opponents, which includes California, Memphis, Miami (Fla.), Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech and Vanderbilt.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
Tulane won its first conference championship in 13 years since Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005 and its first since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2014-15. The Green Wave defeated No. 7 seed East Carolina (4-1), No. 3 UCF (4-2) and No. 5 seed USF (4-3) in consecutive days in Dallas, as senior Constantin Schmitz was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
AWARDS SEASON
Tulane was well-represented on The American's all-conference team, as Schmitz was named Player of the Year for the second year in a row and director of tennis Mark Booras was named Coach of the Year. Schmitz and Moore were also tabbed to the all-conference team in singles, respectively, and as a doubles team.
Schmitz has been named American Athletic Conference Player of the Week four times during the 2018 spring season. In addition to receiving his first of the year on Jan. 23, he became the first player in league history to receive the honor in three consecutive weeks on March 27, April 3 and April 10. Schmitz has 10 weekly nods for his career, which surpassed USF's Roberto Cid's (2013-16) total of nine for the most all-time. The senior received the honor once as a freshman in 2015 and five times last season in addition to being named the league's player of the month in October of 2016.
Moore was chosen as the American Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week on Feb. 27, after posting a 2-0 mark at No. 2 singles and 1-0 at No.1 doubles for the Green Wave, including a straight set victory over the nation's No. 20 player, Giovanni Oradini of 39th-ranked Mississippi State, 6-4, 6-4, on Friday evening. He followed up that performance by outlasting Connor Curry, 7-6(4), 6-4, as part of a 7-0 Tulane rout of 21st-ranked Texas Tech just two days later.
IN THE RANKINGS
In the latest Oracle/ITA team rankings, Tulane ranks No. 23 nationally, which is currently the second highest of any American Athletic Conference program behind Memphis at No. 21. The Green Wave's highest ranking this season was No. 20, matching their 2017 high, which is also the highest under head coach Mark Booras' leadership.
The Wave has two players listed in the singles poll and one doubles teams ranked. Schmitz holds the Wave's highest singles ranking at No. 15 and has been listed as high as No. 11 this season, followed by Moore at No. 113. Schmitz and Moore also comprise the nation's No. 34 doubles tandem.
In the USTA College Tennis Poll released on May 2, the Wave was tabbed as the nation's No. 16 team.
DOUBLES POINT DICTATION
The doubles point is coveted by most teams in dual matches and it has been very indicative of Tulane's success this spring. The Green Wave are 14-0 when winning two of three doubles matches, but just 4-6 when they do not. The Wave's only victories without the doubles point include a pair of 5-2 road wins at Middle Tennessee on March 2 and Auburn on March 15, as well as the 4-2 win over UCF on April 21 and the 4-3 triumph over USF in the conference championship match the following day.
WINNING STREAKS
-As a team Tulane heads to Tallahassee with wins in 12 of the last 13 matches, including seven straight.
-In singles, Schmitz has won 11-straight singles matches and four in a row against ranked opponents - all at the No. 1 position.
-Freshman Hamish Stewart has won each of his last five contests to push his record to 18-7 overall and 15-5 this spring. He's 14-5 when playing at the No. 3 spot in the lineup and was the only Green Wave player to win all three of his matches at the American Athletic Conference Championships.
-In doubles, Schmitz and sophomore Ewan Moore have won nine consecutive decisions and own a 16-7 overall record, including a 12-4 mark playing No. 1 in the lineup.
THE ALMIGHTY SCHMITZ
A Remagen, Germany native, Schmitz owns a 28-8 overall singles record and an 18-4 mark at the No. 1 spot in dual matches this spring. He has defeated 12 top-100 opponents during his senior campaign and earned his 100th collegiate singles victory against UCF on April 21. His 28 wins this season match his single-season high set during his sophomore year in 2015-16.
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Constantin Schmitz was named the 2017-18 American Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year on March 7, joining the Green Wave's Lauren Bartels who was named The American's Cross Country Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A business major, Schmitz was named to The American's All-Academic Team in 2013-14 as a freshman and 2016-17 as a junior, while also being tabbed to Tulane's 3.0 Club in two semesters and the 3.5 club in three others, most recently during the Fall 2017 semester.
RAISING THE BAR
The Green Wave won 19 dual matches during the 2017 season, the most for the program in the post-Katrina era. With two wins in Tallahassee, Tulane will have its first 20-win season since posting 22 victories in 2005.
SCOUTING ALABAMA
-The Crimson Tide (18-12) opened the dual match season with 14 straight wins, but dropped 12 of its final 16 contests, which includes two Southeastern Conference (SEC) Tournament wins before a quarterfinal defeat.
-Mazen Osama is the nation's No. 10 ranked singles player with a 15-7 overall record playing at the No. 1 position in the lineup this spring. He owns a 9-6 mark against ranked opponents and enters Friday's match riding a four-match winning streak.
-In doubles, Osama and Edson Ortiz hold a No. 26 national ranking with a 16-7 record playing at the No. 1 spot in dual matches.
-In addition to SEC foes Vanderbilt, LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn, the Tide shares two other common opponents with the Green Wave in Tulsa and Rice. Alabama posted a 4-3 record against those teams which includes two wins over Auburn, while the Wave went 4-2.
-Tulane and Alabama are not completely unfamiliar foes this season, as the programs had a handful of players meet during a pair of fall tournaments.
Junior Eric Wagner earned a three-set win (2-6, 6-0, 7-6(5)) over Grant Stuckey in the consolation semifinals of the singles draw at the CCB Invitational on Nov. 11 in Birmingham.
Moore defeated Ortiz (3-6, 6-1, 6-3) in the second round of the main draw at the ITA Southern Regional on Oct. 20.
Sophomore Tim Ruetzel fell in straight sets to Alexey Nesterov at regionals and fell to Ortiz in the first round in Birmingham, but earned an 8-4 doubles win with Stewart over Ortiz and Zhou in the main draw's round of 16 at regionals.
SCOUTING ALABAMA STATE
-The Hornets (12-8) won the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Tournament with wins over Alcorn State and Jackson State.
-Alabama State has four common opponents with Tulane, including a 7-0 loss at Middle Tennessee, a 4-3 win over Nicholls, a 5-0 loss at Auburn and two victories over Alcorn State.
-Chris Andre was named SWAC Freshman of the Year and is one of five Hornets who received All-SWAC honors this season along with Carl Louis-Luckmann, Tomas Fernandez, Ion Efrim and Alexis Collard.
SCOUTING FLORIDA STATE
-Ranked 12th nationally, the Seminoles (27-4) are led by Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year Dwayne Hultquist and three All-Atlantic Coast Conference selections: Aziz Dougaz (first team), Lucas Poullain (second team) and Guy Iradukunda (second team).
-Florida State is 15-1 on its home courts this season with its lone loss coming on April 20 to then-No. 7 ranked North Carolina, 4-1.
-FSU possesses three ranked singles players and a trio of doubles tandems listed in the latest ITA polls. Dougaz is listed at No. 25, Poullain No. 35 and Iradukunda No. 44 in singles. In doubles, Jose Gracia and Poullain are the No. 55 duo, Alex Knaff and Iradukunda stand No. 60 and Gracia and Knaff are ranked No. 74.
-The Seminoles share two common opponents with Tulane this spring, as they defeated Texas Tech, 6-1, in Honolulu, Hawaii on Jan. 8 and Miami (Fla.) at a neutral site on March 9 in a 4-0 decision.
LAST TIME THEY MET
-Tulane and Alabama have gone head-to-head twice in the post-Hurricane Katrina era. When the programs met in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on April 11, 2014, the Crimson Tide earned a 4-1 victory. The Green Wave also suffered a 6-1 setback on February 7, 2010 to then-19th-ranked Alabama in just their fourth dual match since rebooting the program after Katrina.
-Tulane and Alabama State have not met in the post-Katrina era.
-Tulane and Florida State could meet for the seventh time overall and the first time since 1997. The Seminoles own a 4-2 lead in the all-time series that dates back to the first matchup in 1964.
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Players Mentioned
