ABILENE – Abilene Christian men's tennis (16-4, 2-0 Southland) completed a 2-0 home weekend following its 5-2 win over New Orleans Sunday on the outdoor courts of the Eager Tennis Center.
The women's match vs. the Privateers was played indoors starting at 11 a.m., but the men pushed their start time back an hour to play under clear skies and 50 degree temperatures in the Big Country.
The Wildcats' fourth-straight win over UNO started with a close call in doubles. ACU's No. 3 duo of
Jonathan Sheehy and
Nikolas Moceanu won 6-1 for an early advantage, but its No. 2 team of
Josh Sheehy and
Riley Tran were doubled up 6-3 at the No. 2 line.
At No. 1, however, it was the Wildcat tandem of junior
Jackson Fine and senior
Cole Lawson, which earned the all-important first point as they battled to hold off Mats Westkamp and Misha Fomenkov 7-6 (5) for their seventh win together and third at the top line. This combination started the season at the No. 3 line, but recently moved into the No. 1 slot during the team's Spring Break trip. Friday they beat the Nicholls' No. 1 team of Oleksandr Podgursky and Tobias Lentz, 6-4.
The Wildcats and Privateers split the first four decisions to begin singles play, keeping the dual a one-point affair. Top-line competitor
Josh Sheehy was first off the courts after beating Mats Westkamp, 6-4, 6-4, and two matches later freshman
Dimitris Azoides defeated Johannes Klein, 6-3, 6-4 to give ACU a 3-1 lead.
Azores claims the team's longest current individual winning streak at four games and is 15-5 on the season.
Josh Sheehy is second with 13 wins followed by freshman
Riley Tran (11) and
Jonathan Sheehy (10) and
Nikolas Moceanu (10).
After
Jonathan Sheehy lost at No. 2 to Fomenkov, Tran won a close match over Nicolas Kramer 6-2, 7-6 (10-8) for the match-clinching point and then Moceanu completed his rally from a set down to beat Samuel Armand 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 at No.3.
ACU now owns a 77-39 (.664) record in singles and 30-20 mark (.600) in doubles.
The Wildcats return to action Friday with an 11:44 a.m. match vs. Lamar. They also will play host next Saturday to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Abilene Christian 5, New Orleans 2
Mar 31, 2019 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1.
Josh Sheehy (ACU) def. Mats Westkamp (UNO) 6-4, 6-4
2. Misha Fomenkov (UNO) def.
Jonathan Sheehy (ACU) 7-5, 6-4
3.
Nikolas Moceanu (ACU) def. Samuel Armand (UNO) 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
4.
Dimitris Azoides (ACU) def. Johannes Klein (UNO) 6-3, 6-4
5.
Riley Tran (ACU) def. Nicolas Kramer (UNO) 6-2, 7-6 (10-8)
6. Odysseas Papaioannou (UNO) def.
Sebastian Langdon (ACU) 6-0, 7-5
Doubles competition
1.
Jackson Fine/
Cole Lawson (ACU) def. Mats Westkamp/Misha Fomenkov (UNO) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Samuel Armand/Johannes Klein (UNO) def.
Josh Sheehy/
Riley Tran (ACU) 6-3
3.
Jonathan Sheehy/
Nikolas Moceanu (ACU) def. Odysseas Papaioannou/Nicolas Kramer (UNO) 6-1
Match Notes
New Orleans 6-11 (0-2 SLC)
Abilene Christian 16-4 (2-0 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,6,4,2,5,3)
T-3:35 A-100
