Tennis teams begin fall season at Dillard

NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans men's and women's tennis teams began their 2026-27 campaign Friday at Dillard University's tennis courts for the annual Dillard fall invitational. 

Loyola's men's team played modified dual matches against Dillard, while the women's team competed against players from both Southeastern Louisiana and Dillard. 

The morning began with the No. 16-ranked Wolf Pack men taking on the No. 13 Bleu Devils in singles. The Bleu Devils won most of the early singles matches, though sophomore Luca Abati won his match 6-3, 6-3. Samuel Marin was also close with a three-set loss. Doubles went well for the Pack, with the duo of Abati and Jett Nguyen cruising to a 6-1 win while Marin and Alfredo Gallegos also won 6-4. 

The women's competition started with two rounds of doubles competition before moving to singles. Presha Shanthamoorthi and Sofia Amodu, who also played together last fall, were up 5-4 against a team from Southeastern before eventually falling in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7-5). Claire Luig and Thandie Sampson, both making their Wolf Pack debuts, played two matches together but dropped both. 

Shanthamoorthi scored the lone singles win for the Wolf Pack women, defeating a player from Southeastern 6-4, 6-4.

The second round of men's singles produced more wins for Loyola. Gallegos bounced back from his earlier loss with a three-set win: 6-1, 4-6, 10-5. Marin also won in three sets, 3-6, 6-1, 10-1. Abati also went three sets, winning a second-set tiebreak before dropping the third set 10-5. Daniel Perez, who played his first official matches for the Wolf Pack in Friday's invitational, closed out the day with a 6-4, 6-4 win. 

The Wolf Pack tennis teams will return to the court next week for the NAIA ITA Gulf Regional Championships. The tournament is scheduled to start on Friday, Sept. 25, at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Complex, with the championships running through Sunday. 

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