Men's Tennis Set For Road Tests at Alabama, Mississippi State

Friday, January 29

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

1 PM

Tulane University

Alabama

Photo by: Parker Waters

Men's Tennis Set For Road Tests at Alabama, Mississippi State

Jan 28, 2021 | Men's Tennis

LIVE SCORING at Alabama

LIVE SCORING/VIDEO at Mississippi State

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane men's tennis team sets out on its first road trip of the young 2021 season for a pair of matches against Southeastern Conference opponents Alabama and Mississippi State.

The Green Wave (3-0) will play in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Friday, January 29 at 1 p.m., before continuing on to Starkville, Miss., for a noon start on Sunday.

SCOUTING ALABAMA
The Crimson Tide (4-2) enter Friday's match coming off consecutive losses to NC State and Ole Miss at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Raleigh, N.C., last weekend. Their four wins have come in a pair of doubleheader sweeps over Samford and North Alabama, respectively. Edson Ortiz is Alabama's lone ranked singles player at No. 89 nationally and recorded a 7-6 record during the abbreviated 2020 season playing at the No. 1 spot in the lineup.

SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE
The Bulldogs (3-0) will face Middle Tennessee on Friday, two days ahead of Sunday's matchup, and already have wins over Bellarmine, North Alabama and ULL this spring. Mississippi State is led by two ranked singles players including No. 36 Giovanni Oradini and No. 87 Florian Broska. In doubles, Broska and Nicolas Ocana comprise the nation's No. 28 tandem, while Alberto Colas and Gregor Ramskogler are ranked No. 47. Last spring, Tulane scored a 4-0 win over the then-20th-ranked Bulldogs in Starkville.

LAST TIME OUT
Tulane earned a 4-0 shutout win over UTSA on Jan. 22 behind doubles wins on courts one and two, respectively, before senior Hamish Stewart (court one), freshman Fynn Kuenkler (court five) and freshman Rafael de Alba (court six) recorded straight-set singles victories. The win was de Alba's first in his collegiate career, as his win also served as the clincher.

IN THE RANKINGS
The Green Wave possess two players listed in the ITA's national singles rankings, led by senior Hamish Stewart at No. 40 and fifth-year senior Ewan Moore at No. 53.

VETERAN CORE
Tulane returns an experienced core comprised of the leadership of fifth-year seniors Ewan Moore and Luis Erlenbusch, as well as seniors Hamish Stewart and Akos Kotorman. Sophomores Henry Lovett and Benji Jacobson round out the letterwinners back from last year's roster. Combined, the Green Wave's four seniors have produced 232 singles wins and 154 doubles victories.

FRESH FACES
The Green Wave welcome a massive influx of young talent including redshirt freshman Charlie Barry and true freshmen Rafael de Alba, Fynn Kuenkler, Jeremy Schifris and Billy Suarez.

THE BOORAS FACTOR
Head coach and director of tennis Mark Booras enters his 12th season at the helm of the program. He has led the Green Wave to four straight NCAA Tournament selections in 2019, while Tulane has finished in the top 50 of the final ITA national team rankings in each of the last six years.

FOLLOW THE GREEN WAVE
Follow Tulane men's tennis on Twitter and Facebook (@GreenWaveMTenn), as well as Instagram (@TulaneMTennis) for behind the scenes coverage of the program.