CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Top seed New Orleans, third seed A&M-Corpus Christi, fifth seed Lamar, and seventh seed UIW won quarterfinal matches in the 2023 Southland Conference Men’s Tennis Championships at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center on Thursday.
New Orleans will take on Lamar and A&M-Corpus Christi will play UIW in semifinal matches on Friday at 6 p.m.
(1) NEW ORLEANS 4, (8) BRYANT 1
After dropping the doubles point, regular season champion New Orleans quickly rattled off four wins in singles to advance to the semifinals. Bryant – making its first SLC tournament appearance – earned the doubles point with a 6-4 win by Nick Lorenz and Leonardo Mileikowsky at No. 3 and a 7-5 win by Marcus Macaulay and Diego Serra Sparrow at No. 2.
UNO’s Luke Joujan powered to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles to tie the match, followed by Karim Al-Amin winning 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2. Max Heinzel won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 and David Tesic clinched the win at No. 6 with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
(5) LAMAR 4, (4) NJIT 1
The Cardinals won a tightly contested doubles point to take the early lead. Martin Garcia-Ripoll and Gustave Hasslegren were 6-3 victors at No. 3, and Max Amling and Filippo Salsini won a tiebreak 7-4 to take a 7-6 overall win at No. 1 and earn the point.
Salsini took a 6-0, 7-5 win at No. 2 singles and Brandon Do won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 6 singles to put Lamar within a point of the win. NJIT’s Pablo Perez Ramos upset Player of the Year Amling 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1, before LU’s Max Milic clinched the math with a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 5.
(3) A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI 4, (6) NICHOLLS 1
The Islanders and Colonels split the first two matches of doubles, with A&M-Corpus Christi’s Pascal Lorieul and Avery Zavala winning 6-2 at No. 1 and Nicholls’ Lukas Morand and Antonio Sasso winning 6-3 at No. 3. A 6-4 win by Ulysse Bertrand and Matthieu Peres at No. 2 gave the home side the doubles point.
Peres won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3 singles before Nicholls’ Omar Morsy claed back a point at No. 1 singles with a 6-2, 6-2 win. Lucas Schurdevin’s 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 6 singles and Lorieul’s 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 2 wrapped up the win for the Islanders.
(7) UIW 5, (2) UIC 2
UIW rolled to a 6-1 win by Antoine Martin-Thiriat and Tomas Reche at No. 1 and a 6-2 win by Jose Garmendia and Joao Sasso at No. 2 to claim the doubles point before a series of hotly contested singles matches.
UIW’s Noah de Luna picked up a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 6 before Newcomer of the Year Aleksa Bucan won 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) to earn the Flames’ first point. Garmendia won 6-0, 6-4 at No. 5, with the final three matches all going to three sets.
Pelle Strandberg lost the first set 6-1, then won 6-3 and 6-4 at No. 1 singles to keep the dual alive for UIC. With No. 4 locked in a battle in the third set, UIW’s Arnau Miralles claimed the dual for the Cardinals with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win at No. 3.
UPDATED SCHEDULE | BRACKET
QUARTERFINALS | Thursday
(1) New Orleans 4, (8) Bryant 1
(5) Lamar 4, (4) NJIT 1
(7) UIW 4, (2) UIC 2
(3) A&M-Corpus Christi 4, (6) Nicholls 1
SEMIFINALS | 6 p.m. Friday
(1) New Orleans vs. (5) Lamar
(7) UIW vs. (3) A&M-Corpus Christi
CHAMPIONSHIP | 4 p.m. Saturday, LIVE on ESPN+