LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University men's and women's tennis programs combined for a couple of singles victories and a doubles win Friday in a pair of 6-1 defeats to New Orleans at the Alcorn Tennis Courts.
On the men's side, sophomore
Johnatan Parat pulled off his second big win of the year at No. 2 singles. He led the Braves (0-6) with a come-from-behind 2-6, 7-6, 10-8 victory over Misha Fomenkov. It came after he notched a 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 win at UL-Lafayette to open the season.
In doubles, the Macedonian team of sophomore
Stojan Stojanovski and junior
Gjorgji Popovski registered a 6-4 win at the No. 2 position. They topped the Privateer (3-4) duo of Odysseas Papoioannou and Nicolas Kramer.
Popovski nearly recorded a win in singles as well, but fell 6-3, 7-6 at the No. 3 spot.
The Lady Braves (0-3) continued to play shorthanded due to injuries and surrendered No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.
The highlight of the match came at No. 4 singles where freshman
Stefany Grlj turned in a 7-5, 1-6, 10-8 triumph over UNO's (1-0) Salma Abdelrahim.
Another close one came at No. 2 singles where junior
Anastasia Vaganova found herself in a second set tiebreaker, but fell 6-1, 7-6.
"Overall, we're still improving. We're getting better and we're progressing toward the level that we want to be playing at," said Alcorn head coach
Barbara Oliveira. "Neither of our teams are complete yet as
Santiago Rocca hasn't played yet for the men, and we're still working on getting a No. 6 for the women and recovering
Alessandra Maganuco from injury. I'm just focused on getting the best out of what we have for now and I believe we will beat teams when we're at full strength."
The Lady Braves have a busy weekend as they'll travel to Mississippi State at 11 a.m. Saturday before returning home to host Southeastern Louisiana at 1 p.m. Sunday. The men will have a week off from competition before hosting Jacksonville State on Friday, Feb. 8 at 10 a.m.
Men's Tennis
New Orleans 6, Alcorn 1
Doubles Competition
1. Mats Westkamp/Misha Fomenkov (UNO) def.
Nuno Rocha/
Johnatan Parat (ALCM) 6-2
2.
Stojan Stojanovski/
Gjorgji Popovski (ALCM) def. Odysseas Papaioannou/Nicolas Kramer (UNO) 6-4
3. Johannes Klein/Samuel Armand (UNO) def.
Ivan Matas/
Kareem Bowe (ALCM) 6-3
Singles Competition
1. Mats Westkamp (UNO) def.
Stojan Stojanovski (ALCM) 6-1, 6-1
2.
Johnatan Parat (ALCM) def. Misha Fomenkov (UNO) 2-6, 7-6, 10-8
3. Johannes Klein (UNO) def.
Gjorgji Popovski (ALCM) 6-3, 7-6
4. Nicolas Kramer (UNO) def.
Ivan Matas (ALCM) 6-2, 6-0
5. Odysseas Papaioannou (UNO) def.
Nuno Rocha (ALCM) 6-2, 6-3
6. Samuel Armand (UNO) def.
Kareem Bowe (ALCM) 6-0, 6-1
Women's Tennis
New Orleans 6, Alcorn 1
Doubles Competition
1. Trang Dao/Mar Gendra (UNO) def.
Bianca Birkenstock/
Anastasia Vaganova (ALCW) 6-3
2. Salma Abdelrahim/Brittany Johnson (UNO) def.
Veronika Pytlikova/
Klavdija Bukovec (ALCW) 6-1
3. Claudette Gilhespie/Yurina Asai (UNO) def. No player/No player (ALCW), by forfeit
Singles Competition
1. Ank Vullings (UNO) def.
Bianca Birkenstock (ALCW) 6-4, 6-0
2. Trang Dao (UNO) def.
Anastasia Vaganova (ALCW) 6-1, 7-6
3. Mar Gendra (UNO) def.
Veronika Pytlikova (ALCW) 6-2, 6-0
4.
Stefany Grlj (ALCW) def. Salma Abdelrahim (UNO) 7-5, 1-6, 10-8
5. Yurina Asai (UNO) def.
Klavdija Bukovec (ALCW) 6-3, 6-0
6. Lea Alguacil (UNO) def. No player (ALCW), by forfeit
#FearTheBrave
