Men's Tennis Falls at Alabama, 4-3

Friday, January 29

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

1 PM

Tulane University

Alabama

Photo by: Parker Waters

Jan 29, 2021 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Tulane men's tennis team suffered its first setback of the 2021 season, 4-3, at Alabama on Friday afternoon at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.

"Like I've been saying, first and foremost, we are thankful to have this opportunity to compete again," director of tennis Mark Booras said. "We played a very tough match against a top-ranked Alabama program and were in the driver's seat with chances to possibly close them out, but just didn't close the door at No. 3 and No. 4. When you leave the door open against a the team like this they're going to take advantage of it, which they did."

The Green Wave got to work early in doubles play, as fifth-year senior Luis Erlenbusch and freshman Fynn Kuenkler cruised to a 6-2 win on court three. The Wave's No. 1 tandem of fifth-year senior Ewan Moore and senior Hamish Stewart clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 victory to establish the early momentum heading into singles.

Tulane remained the aggressor early in singles play by claiming the first set on courts one, three and four, including the 40th-ranked Stewart, who took the first frame, 6-2, over Patrick Kaukovalta on court one. Despite trailing 5-4 in the second set and facing three-consecutive set points in the 10th game, the Glasgow, Scotland native went on to win the next three games and finish off the victory to extend the Green Wave's lead to 2-0.

Alabama countered with a vengeance from that point however, winning five second sets while collecting three straight-set wins on courts two, five and six, respectively, to take a 3-2 advantage overall.

"This is a great eye-opener for us knowing that if we play our games like we're supposed to we're going to have some really good chances to be successful," Booras said. "But, if we put our destiny in somebody else's hands, who knows what will happen?"

On court three, Erlenbusch faced off against No. 89 Edson Ortiz where he won the first set, 6-3. Ortiz bounced back to win a tight second set, 7-6, before hanging on in the third, 6-4, to clinch for the Crimson Tide who took a 4-2 lead.

Freshman Billy Suarez was left to finish his match on court four which was locked in a 6-6 tie in the third set at the time of Alabama's clinch. Suarez won the first set, 6-4, but dropped the second by the same count. The 6-6 tiebreaker went back-and-forth almost the entire way with ties at three-all and six-all, but Suarez was able to grab a 9-7 win to claim the three-set victory.

Up next, Tulane heads to Starkville, Mississippi to face Mississippi State on Sunday, January 31 at noon.

Alabama 4, Tulane 3
Singles competition
1. #40 Hamish Stewart (TLN) def. Patrick Kaukovalta (UA) 6-2, 7-5
2. Zhe Zhou (UA) def. Ewan Moore (TLN) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1)
3. #89 Edson Ortiz (UA) def. Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
4. Billy Suarez (TLN) def. Riccardo Roberto (UA) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7)
5. Gabriel Diaz Freire (UA) def. Fynn Kuenkler (TLN) 6-4, 6-3
6. Jeremy Gschwendtner (UA) def. Akos Kotorman (TLN) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Hamish Stewart/Ewan Moore (TLN) def. Edson Ortiz/Marcelo Sepulveda (UA) 6-4
2. Akos Kotorman/Billy Suarez (TLN) vs. Patrick Kaukovalta/Riccardo Roberto (UA) no result
3. Luis Erlenbusch/Fynn Kuenkler (TLN) def. Gabriel Diaz Freire/Zhe Zhou (UA) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (1,6,2,5,3,4)
T-3:37

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