Ty Ammons
Staff Writer
Troy University’s men’s and women’s tennis teams traveled to participate in the Big Easy Tennis Classic on Friday, October 23.
The Troy men’s team sent 11 players, with nine of them making it past their first match at the tournament. Sophomore Andy Lau did not have a match in singles flight four until the semifinals, and won in a walkover.
Senior Daniel Bustamante’s first match was in the quarterfinals, and he won against senior Evan Karatzas from Nicholls State University 6-3, 6-2. He also won his semifinals match 6-7, 6-2, 1-0 over senior Pedro Wagner from Jacksonville State University.
In the quarterfinals of singles, six Trojans matched up against each other.
Sophomore Andre Baldo was set to play freshman Tomas Fernandez, but won in a walkover. Sophomore Calum McKinlay faced off against freshman Jeremy Braud, winning 3-6, 7-6, 1-0.
Sophomore Austin Racine and freshman Sam Bird also won their quarterfinal matches in singles flight 6.
Freshman Vaclav Slezak won both his matches in singles flight three in both the first round and the quarterfinals.
Racine, Baldo and freshman Marcel Du Sart lost their semifinal matches. Bustamante, Bird, McKinlay and Fernandez all made it to the finals, where McKinlay beat Bird. The other two lost as well.
Even though the matches were close, only one out of the five doubles teams won in the first round.
Freshmen duo Slezak and Fernandez won their match against freshmen Oleksander Podgursky/Oscar Reeve from Nicholls State University 6-3. Unfortunately, they lost the next match 4-6 to ULL sophomores Vlad Kramarov and Will Huyton.
That same weekend, the Trojan women had as much success as the men did in their play.
Freshman Luisa Ferrauti, sophomores Nancy Karaky and Sanae Ohta all won their quarterfinal matches in singles. However, all three would lose their semifinal matches. Freshman Tereza Melicharkova lost her quarterfinal match.
Ohta/Karaky won their first-round doubles match 6-0 against junior Adraina Garrett/sophomore JayJay Lubin from Barry University.
Melicharkova/Ferrauti won their first doubles match 6-1 against sophomore Elizabeth Clayton/junior Alexis Dean from Florida A&M.
Ohta/Karaky went on to win their quarterfinal doubles match, while Melicharkova/Ferrauti lost their quarterfinal 2-6. Ohta/Karaky went on to the semifinals and lost with no contest.
The next for the Trojan men is still to be determined. On Thursday, Nov. 5, or Friday Nov. 6, the men will attend one of three tournaments: the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing Meadows, New York; the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational in Orlando, Florida; or the Wake Forest Fall Invitational in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The women will attend the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday, Nov. 5.
