Men’s Tennis Falls in Quarterfinals of American Conference Championship

Friday, April 19

Orlando, Fla.

7 AM

Tulane University

Temple

Men’s Tennis Falls in Quarterfinals of American Conference Championship

Apr 19, 2019 | Men's Tennis

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Tulane men's tennis team's bid to repeat at the American Athletic Conference Championship came up short in a 4-3 loss to Temple in the quarterfinal round on Friday afternoon.

"Hats off to Temple for being the better team today," head coach and director of tennis Mark Booras said. "They came out hungrier, more intense and were basically all-around tougher than we were. We gave ourselves a chance in the end by dictating pace of play and playing to win to get ahead, but then nerves set in a bit. We started playing not to lose and gave them an opportunity to get the momentum back."

The No. 2 seed in the tournament, Tulane (14-12) got off to a strong start in doubles, as the sophomore tandem of Akos Kotorman and Hamish Stewart won the final four games and cruised to a 6-2 victory on court two. The win was their sixth in a row and improved their record to 10-1 this spring.

No. 7 seed Temple (16-6) punched back however, scoring a 6-3 win on court one, while court three was knotted at four at the time of completion. The Owls would hang on in the tiebreaker for a 7-6(4) win to clinch the first team point of the contest.

"We've seen this happen for us and against us this year," Booras said. "These are always tough lessons to learn, but when you do finally learn from them, you'll be stronger and tougher than you've ever been. Hopefully, we can embrace this experience in a way that will motivate us to get stronger as we wait to hear about the postseason."

Despite a 4-1 deficit in the first set against Eric Biscoveanu, junior Dane Esses rallied back to win the next five games and then win the second frame, 6-3, to get the Green Wave on the scoreboard and tie the overall match at one apiece. The win for Esses was his fifth straight and team-leading 25th of the season.

Junior and 65th-ranked Ewan Moore gave the Wave their first lead of the day with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Alberto Caceres-Casas on court one, but Temple countered with a straight-set victory of its own on court six to level the match, 2-2.

Senior Tyler Schick cruised to a 6-4, 6-3 triumph against Uladzimir Dorash on court four to put Tulane back in front, but the Owls once again had an answer with another straight-set win on court two to draw even once again, 3-3, with the final match headed to a third set on court three.

Junior and 93rd-ranked Luis Erlenbusch dropped a tight first set, 6-4, to Paolo Cucalon but fought back to win the second frame by the same score. Erlenbusch earned two huge breaks to build a 5-1 advantage in the final set, but Cucalon never gave up, fighting off multiple match points to eventually force a 6-6 tiebreaker. Erlenbusch held an early 4-2 edge, but Cucalon punched back to win, 7-6(6), and clinch the match.

Temple 4, #39 Tulane 3

Singles competition
1. #65 Ewan Moore (TLN) def. A. Caceres Casas (TEM) 6-4, 6-3
2. Mark Wallner (TEM) def. Hamish Stewart (TLN) 6-4, 6-3
3. Paolo Cucalon (TEM) def. #93 Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6)
4. Tyler Schick (TLN) def. Uladzimir Dorash (TEM) 6-4, 6-3
5. Dane Esses (TLN) def. Eric Biscoveanu (TEM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Juan Araoz (TEM) def. Akos Kotorman (TLN) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. #75 A. Caceres Casas/Mark Wallner (TEM) def. Ewan Moore/Tyler Schick (TLN) 6-3
2. Hamish Stewart/Akos Kotorman (TLN) def. Eric Biscoveanu/Enzo Brida (TEM) 6-2
3. Uladzimir Dorash/Paolo Cucalon (TEM) def. Luis Erlenbusch/Dane Esses (TLN) 7-6 (7-4)

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,1,6,4,2,3)

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