April 24, 2009

Final Stats

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The No. 6 seeded Nicholls men's tennis team shocked No. 3 seed Texas-San Antonio in the opening round of the SLC Tournament, pulling off the 4-2 win at the HEB Center.

"This is just an outstanding win for our program," said head coach Jim Hunter. "I'm just so proud of our team in how they fought through adversity today."

The Colonels (12-9, 2-5) lost the doubles point to start off the match, dropping all three doubles matches. However, their shortcomings in doubles play didn't matter as the team played stellar in singles, posting four victories from the No. 2 spot in the lineup all the way to the No. 5 spot.

Sophomore Radu Ionescu's dominant 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles over Andre Moreria started a rally for the Colonels. Wins by junior Eric Fisher at No. 3 and junior Phenyo Matong at No. 4 followed. Then came the clincher at the No.5 spot as sophomore Rohan Shetty laid everything on the line to get the three-set two-tiebreaker victory to ensure the upset.

Shetty won the first set 6-4 over Max Stratmann, but Stratmann fought back to claim the second set 7-6 (7-4) sending the match to the elusive third stanza. In the third set, both players proved to be evenly matched, having to settle the match in yet another tiebreaker. Unlike the second set that ended with Stratmann winning the tiebreaker, it was Shetty who emerged with the match and ultimately the team victory after the third knot.

Senior Abhaya Prakash's match at No. 1 was stopped due to the contest already being decided. At the time when play was called, Prakash and Rodrigo Morgado were already in their third set.

Nicholls will play No. 2 seed Texas-Pan American tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. in the semi-final round.

Results from the match are below.

No. 6 Nicholls State def No. 3 UTSA, 4-2
Apr 24, 2009, at Corpus Christi, Texas

Singles competition:
1. Rodrigo Morgado (UTSA-M) vs. Abhaya Prakash (NICH-M) 5-7, 2-6, 5-6, unfinished
2. Radu Ionescu (NICH-M) def. Andre Moreira (UTSA-M) 6-1, 6-3
3. Eric Fisher (NICH-M) def. Pedro Zanotelli (UTSA-M) 6-4, 6-3
4. Phenyo Matong (NICH-M) def. Daniel Moreiras (UTSA-M) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
5. Rohan Shetty (NICH-M) def. Max Stratmann (UTSA-M) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6)
6. Jorge Delgado (UTSA-M) def. Sami Mouline (NICH-M) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles competition:
1. Andre Moreira/Rodrigo Morgado (UTSA-M) def. Radu Ionescu/Abhaya Prakash (NICH-M) 8-1
2. Pedro Zanotelli/Max Stratmann (UTSA-M) vs. Phenyo Matong/Eric Fischer (NICH-M) 5-4, unfinished
3. Jorge Delgado/Daniel Moreiras (UTSA-M) def. Rohan Shetty/Sami Mouline (NICH-M) 8-3

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles ()
T-3:58

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