MOBILE, Ala. – The No. 19 seed Loyola University New Orleans men's tennis team began the NAIA National Championship Tuesday morning, but the team's first ever match at the tournament did not end until the late afternoon, 3 ½ hours later, after a marathon opening round matchup with No. 14 seed Grace College. The Wolf Pack (8-5) knocked off the Lancers (16-7) with a 4-3 result to capture the team's first win in the tournament in program history.
After the program's first ever win at the NAIA National Championship, Loyola's men's team will now play in the second round at the Mobile Tennis Center against No. 3 seed Keiser. The match is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Freshman Luca Abati came up big Tuesday with a comeback win on singles court 5 to clinch the match. With each team winning three singles matches, however, the doubles point was critical.
The Pack started off doubles with a dominant performance on court 1, as Sam Izrael and Alfredo Gallegos combined for their ninth win of the year, upsetting the NAIA's No. 7 doubles team 6-0. The Lancers got a win on court 2, but seconds later, Abati and Samuel Marin picked up a 6-2 win to give Loyola the first point on the scoreboard.
Gallegos followed his doubles win with a strong start to singles, winning the first set 6-0 before earning a 6-4 result in the second to put Loyola up 2-0 in the match. Marin also quickly finished his singles match on court 4 with a score of 6-2, 6-4.
The Lancers were able to tie the match at 3-3 with wins on courts 1, 2, and 6. They also had Abati on the ropes, as the freshman dropped the first set 6-4 and was down 5-1 in the second. He then roared back with six consecutive games to take the second set and force a deciding third. In the final set, things were tied up at 4-4 before Abati won the final two to secure the win.
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Results
No. 19 Loyola – 4
No. 14 Grace College – 3
Doubles
1. #47 Izrael/Gallegos (LOYNO) def. #7 Rahine/Rakotomalala (GC) 6-0
2. Marin/Abati (LOYNO) def. Papadopoulos/Coan (GC) 6-2
3. Marques/Polichronopoulos (GC) vs. de Preville/Nguyen (LOYNO) 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1. #22 Andreas Polichronopoulos (GC) def. Hippolyte de Preville (LOYNO) 6-3, 6-2
2. #24 Benjamin Rahine (GC) def. Sam Izrael (LOYNO) 6-2, 6-4
3. Alfredo Gallegos (LOYNO) def. Aurelien Coan (GC) 6-0, 6-4
4. Samuel Marin (LOYNO) def. Manuel Marques (GC) 6-2, 6-4
5. Luca Abati (LOYNO) vs. Stergios Papadopoulos (GC) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
6. Mahefa Rakotomalala (GC) def. Jett Nguyen (LOYNO) 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 2, 4, 1, 6, 5
