NEW ORLEANS – The new Wolf Pack men's tennis season began on Friday as the team competed against players from eight other schools at the 2022 NAIA Gulf ITA Regional Championships.
Loyola joined Blue Mountain, Dillard, Loyola, Our Lady of the Lake, Mobile, SCAD Atlanta, Texas A&M Texarkana, William Carey, and Xavier in singles and doubles competition, with the winners of each qualifying for the ITA Cup.
Singles competition was split up into an A-draw and a B-draw, where only players from the A-bracket can qualify for the ITA Cup.
Remus Hebhang-Balan won his opening round match in the singles A-draw to be the only Wolf Pack player in the Round of 16. The Pack had a lot more success in the B-bracket, where two players made the semifinals.
Making their debuts for Loyola, Hippolyte Barbier de Preville and Spencer Matz each won their opening round and quarterfinal matchups in straight sets before being pitted against each other in the semifinal round. Things were about as close as they could get in the semifinal, with Matz pulling out the win in a third-set super-tiebreaker, 1-6, 7-5, 1-0 (15-13). Matz would go on to lose in the championship of the singles B-draw. Kent Shiell also made his Wolf Pack debut on Friday.
In doubles, Loyola had three teams make the quarterfinals. Hebhang-Balan and Barbier de Preville teamed up to defeat a duo from Texarkana 8-2. Herman aure and Samuel Motazed won their Round of 16 match in a tiebreak, 9-8 (8-6), with Matz and Aubin Duchier becoming the Wolf Pack's third quarterfinalist. All three Loyola doubles teams would face top-four seeds, however, and fail to reach the semifinals.
A full list of results can be found on host Xavier's website.
"Our teams showed great mental and physical toughness against strong competition. This weekend is a huge challenge for all teams competing. The level is high and the days are very long. We've handled it well and learned a lot about ourselves."
I'm most proud of how we've supported and fought for each other. It's been a total team effort. It's what college tennis is all about and I'm so happy they can experience these moments together."
You can keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.
