UNO falls in finals heartbreaker at Southland men’s tennis championships

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – It was an intense match in an even more intense atmosphere but the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders won a third set tiebreak in the deciding match as they defeated the New Orleans Privateers 4-3 on Saturday at the Thomas J. Henry Center.

The Islanders have clinched qualification to the NCAA Tournament.

It came down to a tiebreak at flight two. Karim Al-Amin battled back valiantly from down a double break to force a third set tiebreaker against Pascal Lorieul. However, it was Pascal’s day as he won the tiebreaker to clinch the Southland Championship for the home side.

It was a match that had swings of momentum throughout. The Privateers won a tiebreak at flight two with Max Heinzel and Luke Joujan 7-2. That put the deciding match for the doubles point at flight one.

It was Lorieul and Avery Zavala who rallied back from down 5-2 in their doubles tiebreak to win at flight one and give the first point of the day to the Islanders.

When it broke into singles, the Privateers had the momentum going their way. Heinzel wrapped up his first set quickly at 6-1. After not being able to serve out for the match at the first time of asking, Heinzel broke Zavala’s serve then held on his own accord to win the second set 7-5.

Lilian Dubois was in control throughout as he moved his opponent, Ulysse Bertrand around the court throughout the evening. It translated to a 6-2, 6-2 win for Dubois to put the Privateers ahead 2-1.

Nathan Schwartz got the match back on level terms as he answered every service break early in the first set and won 6-4, 6-4. Matthieu Peres won his first set 6-1 but was handled in the second set 6-2. Peres recovered to win the third set 6-1 and give the Islanders a 3-2 lead in the match.

David Tesic bounced back from losing a hard fought first set as he raced out to a 4-0 lead in the third and deciding set. Tesic traded games the rest of the way as he won the third set 6-2.

The Privateers’ season ends at 14-6 and with five All-Southland singles honorees, two All-Southland doubles teams, the Freshman of the Year and the Coach of the Year.

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