Ty Ammons
Staff Writer
The Troy University men’s tennis team competed in the USTA/ITA Southern Regional in Auburn, on Oct. 16-18, and the women’s tennis team competed in the Samford Fall Round Robin in Birmingham on Oct. 17-19.
Junior Trang Huynh, freshman Sanae Ohta, freshman Linnea Skymberg, junior Brooke Durden, junior Anja Cosovic and freshman Julia Mota Albuquerque all competed in the Samford Fall Round Robin.
All of the Trojans played two matches in singles and doubles.
Huynh won her first match 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 against senior Stephanie N’tcha from Samford. Huynh picked up her second win of the weekend against senior Rachel Daniell from UAB 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Ohta won her first match against senior Yasmeen Ebada from Samford 6-3, 6-1. On Saturday, Ohta defeated junior Elaine Simon from UAB 6-1, 6-3.
Skymberg won her first match against sophomore Lauren Caballero from Samford 0-6, 6-0, 6-4. She moved on to face off against junior Amy Lowther from UAB and won 6-3, 6-3.
Cosovic, Durden and Albuquerque all lost their first singles matches.
Huynh and Cosovic won their first doubles match 8-3 against senior Rachel Daniell and graduate Caroline Faught from UAB. Huynh and Cosovic won their second match against sophomore Laura Valkova and senior Emily Newton from the University of South Alabama with a score of 8-6.
Ohta and Skymberg were defeated in their first doubles match 8-4 by sophomores Catherine Ragon and Pardis Kianoush from UAB. Ohta and Symberg went on to win their second doubles match against senior Mary Angela Martin and junior Cinta Maria Papke from the University of South Alabama with a score of 8-6.
Durden and Albuquerque lost their first and second doubles matches.
Of the men’s tennis team junior Gabriel Sciacca Dias, sophomore Pablo Moreno, freshman Austin Racine, junior William McClelland, sophomore Andre Baldo, junior Giovani Samaha and junior Daniel Bustamante all competed in the singles draw.
Dias and Moreno are the only two Trojans who made it past the first round. Dias won his first match against sophomore Luiz Felipe Pinto from UAB with a match score of 6-1, 6-1. Dias also won his second match, 6-0, 6-2, against sophomore Coleman Wahlborg from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette before losing to junior Stefan Lindmark from Ole Miss because of retirement at 4-5 in the first set.
Moreno won his first match 6-4, 6-3 against senior Felipe Diaz from Jacksonville State before losing in the second round to junior Joseph Van Dooren from Auburn 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
The rest of the Trojans had losses in the first round to two players from Nicholls State, two players from Samford and one player from rival South Alabama.
Baldo and McClelland teamed up in the doubles draw and won their first match 8-4, but they ended up losing their second round match 8-3 to the team of junior Jake Wynan and senior Jarred Wynan from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Samaha and Racine were also paired for the doubles draw, and won their first round match 8-3 against the doubles team of freshman Olivier Gingras and sophomore Tuki Jacobs from South Alabama. However, they lost their second round match to sophomore Jordan Daigle and junior Boris Arias from LSU.
Moreno and Dias competed together in the doubles draw and won the first round match 8-4 against juniors Alex Cott and Ian Van Cott for Tulane University. They also won their second round match 8-7 against freshman Simon Freund and junior Harrison Kennedy from LSU. Moreno and Dias ended up losing in the third round to junior Marko Krikovic and senior Lukas Ollert from Auburn due to retirement from injury.
The men’s and women’s next tournament is Oct. 24-25 at the Big Easy Tennis Classic in New Orleans, Louisiana.
