Wally Pendergrass
Staff Writer
Both the Trojan men’s and women’s tennis teams were unable to come up with wins against ranked opponents this past weekend.
The women’s team fell in a close match full of suspense to No. 74 Georgia State, 4-3, on Saturday, Jan. 25. The men’s team lost 6-1 to No. 70 Tulane the same day. The early season has been tough for both teams and this weekend’s road trip was a continuation of the Trojans struggles.
The women’s match did not start well for the Trojans as they fell behind 3-0 after losing the doubles point and two singles matches. The Trojans would come storming back though as Anja Cosovic, Tranq Huynh, and Margot De Haan got wins tying the match at 3-3.
The Trojans would ultimately not be able to win the final game and lost the match 4-3. It was Georgia State’s first official match of the season and they will start with a 1-0(1-0) record. It was Troy’s first conference game and the loss moves the Trojans to 1-3(0-1) on the season.
The women’s team will travel to play No. 23 Auburn on Saturday, Feb. 1. The women’s first home match is against Florida A&M on Sunday, Feb. 2.
The men’s team lost its fifth straight match and the fourth to a ranked opponent. The Trojans weren’t able to get any momentum in the match against the No. 70 Tulane Green Wave, losing by a final score of 6-1.
Trojans Sami Ghorbel and Mansingh Athare were able to hold the No. 38 ranked doubles team of Sebastian Rey and Alex Van Cott from Tulane to a 3-3 score, but Troy would lose the other two doubles matches giving Tulane the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.
Daniel Bustamante would pick up the only point for the Trojans, winning his match 6-2, 0-6, 6-2. His win came after the Trojans had fallen behind 5-0.
The Trojans have had a very demanding schedule early on this season. It has included road trips to No. 33 Alabama, No. 36 Florida State, No. 28 Auburn, and most recently this past weekend at No. 70 Tulane.
The men’s team will have 13 days off to prepare for its next match, which is the first home match against Alabama A&M on Feb. 7.
