The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tulane
No. 15 Men's Tennis falls to No. 31 Tulane, 4-0
03.29.2018 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns open conference play next week at home against TCU.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 15 Texas (12-4) relinquished the doubles point and three singles matches as No. 31 Tulane (13-6) posted a 4-0 win over the Longhorns Thursday evening at Texas Tennis Center.
Texas and Tulane engaged in a lengthy and competitive doubles session to decide the first team point of the match. At second doubles, the Green Wave's Hamish Stewart and Tyler Schick picked up their only service break of the match at the most important time, as they broke UT's Christian Sigsgaard and Adrian Ortiz in the final game for a 6-4 win.
Both sides held serve in the match at first doubles pitting Texas' fourth-ranked tandem of Leonardo Telles and Rodrigo Banzer against Tulane's Constantin Schmitz and Ewan Moore.
Trailing 6-3 in a tiebreaker, Texas saved a couple of match points, but Tulane closed out the match on the ensuing point (7-6 [5]) to seal the doubles point for the Green Wave. UT's Yuya Ito and Colin Markes held a 6-3 tiebreak lead over Tulane's Luis Erlenbusch and Tim Ruetzel at third doubles before the match was called following Tulane's victory at first doubles.
Tulane tacked on to its lead with a 6-1, 6-3 win from Erlenbusch over Telles at fourth singles. At second singles, Tulane's 92nd-ranked Moore held off UT's Sigsgaard in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-4 before taking the second set, 6-4 to give the Green Wave a 3-0 lead.
UT's Ito took the first set from Tulane's 19th-ranked Schmitz at first singles, 6-3. Schmidt picked up an early break on his way to a 6-3 second-set victory, and he produced an identical result in the third set to close out his victory and the team win for Tulane. The remaining matches were abandoned.
UT's Scott fought his way back to a 4-2 third-set lead over Stewart at third singles after dropping the opening set. Texas' Banzer also pushed his match into a third set after dropping the opening set, and Ortiz was engaged in a tight third set at sixth singles when the match was called.
Texas opens conference play on Saturday, April 7 when it plays host to No. 8 TCU. First serve is set for 2 p.m. at Texas Tennis Center.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
We're not competing from the beginning to the end the way we need to. We were in control of a lot of the games in doubles and had chances to gain momentum. We didn't execute at all on break points. We had 13 break points before we finally won one. We just didn't execute or compete the way we needed to. Tulane was really hungry. They went after us from beginning to end, and if you don't match that intensity, that's what's going to happen.
We've got a lot of work to do over the next week. We're going to play one of the best teams we'll play all year next week in TCU. We'll have to play with a lot more fire and a lot more determination or we're going to be in trouble.
I just never felt like we did the things we needed to get done in order to gain momentum. We came out in the singles and we were down right out of the gate. We were fighting just to stay in the match. We never did anything tonight to really take control of the match. It was pretty poor tonight all the way through. We didn't do any of the things we needed to do to beat a good team.
This is a good team, but we haven't been consistent enough to say we're a great team. We've got some great opportunities down the stretch. We've got to put the work in and see what we can get done. I'm pretty disappointed that we didn't play with more fire from beginning to the end.
No. 31 Tulane 4, No. 15 Texas 0
Doubles – Order of Finish: 2, 1
1 Constantin Schmitz/Ewan Moore (Tulane) def. No. 4 Leonardo Telles/Rodrigo Banzer (UT), 7-6 (5)
2 Hamish Stewart/Tyler Schick (Tulane) def. Christian Sigsgaard/Adrian Ortiz (UT), 6-4
3 Yuya Ito/Colin Markes (UT) vs. Luis Erlenbusch/Tim Ruetzel (Tulane), 6-6 (6-3 tiebreaker, suspended)
Singles – Order of Finish: 4, 2, 1
1 No. 19 Constantin Schmitz (Tulane) def. No. 60 Yuya Ito (UT), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
2 No. 92 Ewan Moore (Tulane) def. No. 110 Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 7-6 (4), 6-4
3 No. 70 Harrison Scott (UT) vs. Hamish Stewart (Tulane), 3-6, 6-4, 4-2, suspended
4 Luis Erlenbusch (Tulane) def. No. 89 Leonardo Telles (UT), 6-1, 6-3
5 Rodrigo Banzer (UT) vs. Tyler Schick (Tulane), 4-6, 6-4, 1-2, suspended
6 Adrian Ortiz (UT) vs. Tim Ruetzel (Tulane), 6-3, 4-6, 2-4, suspended
Players Mentioned
