Men’s tennis team begins fall season at Nicholls invitational

THIBODAUX, La. – The Loyola Wolf Pack men's tennis team opened the 2024-25 campaign at the Battle Down the Bayou tournament, hosted by Nicholls State University. Loyola joined four NCAA Division-I teams in the event: Nicholls, New Orleans, Tulane, and Lamar. 

The first day of competition was highlighted by Samuel Motazed and Sam Izrael securing a 6-2 first-round doubles win over the host school's team of Gerhard Venter and Felipe Spagnuolo. Diego Rodriguez Tobar also earned a singles victory over Lamar's Jonah Smith, 6-4, 6-0. 

Loyola garnered some solid results against the NCAA programs on day two, which included three Wolf Pack doubles wins. 

Motazed and Izrael won their second match of the tournament, 6-2 over Stefano Chappuis and Smith from Lamar. Remus Hebhang-Balan and Hippolyte de Preville teamed up to take down Nicholls' top doubles team, Max Lindstedt and Colin Tavares, in a 7-5 result. Loyola also got a doubles win from Rogriguez and Fernando Sedrani Piestun, who came back from down 0-5 against UNO's Mark Ambruster and Marius Gyllerup to win in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7-4).

Rodriguez continued his singles success on day two. After dropping his opening round matchup, he won his second consecutive match on Saturday, besting Nicholls' Venter 6-2, 4-6, 10-1. His doubles partner Piestun also won his match against Lamar's Smith in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. 

Playing in the top flight, De Preville lost a match but won his last one, beating out Lamar's Leon Nickel in a third-set super tiebreak, 7-5, 2-6, 10-7. 

Akhil Indrabalan got his first singles win in an all-Wolf Pack affair, as he beat Izrael 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday. 

Next up for the Wolf Pack in the fall is the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Gulf Regional Championships, which are scheduled to begin on September 27.