Tulsa Holds off Nebraska for Clutch 4-3 Victory

Friday, February 17

Tulsa, Okla.

6:00 p.m.

Tulsa

Nebraska

Photo by: Campbell Rogerson

Tulsa Holds off Nebraska for Clutch 4-3 Victory

2/17/2023 10:36:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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BOX SCORE (PDF) | SEASON RESULTS (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa men's tennis team entered a back-and-forth shootout with the Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-3) Friday and came out on top, 4-3, in the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

The victory improves the Golden Hurricane to 5-3 on the season.

Tulsa cruised in doubles play thanks to the efforts of Timothy Carlsson Seger and Daniel Siddall at the No. 3 position, followed by No. 51-ranked Connor Di Marco and Kody Pearson at the No. 1 spot. Both winning duos took the initial point and did not look back to secure the 1-0 advantage for the Hurricane.

In singles action, senior Stefan Hampe scored first for Tulsa with a decisive 6-3, 6-1 decision at the No. 2 position. Nebraska would answer back wins at the No. 3 and 6 positions before senior Ezequiel Santalla followed up with a 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 victory at the No. 5 spot.

After another Cornhusker win at Singles No. 4 to tie the dual match at 3-3, Tulsa's fate fell into the hands of No. 58 Kody Pearson. In the first set versus Nebraska's Roni Hietaranta—ranked No. 109 in the nation—Pearson forced a tiebreaker set and emerged 7-6 (7-5). Neither athlete led by more than two points during the set.

In set two, Pearson erased an initial 3-0 deficit on the way to force another tiebreaker at 6-6. This time, he climbed out to a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker before closing out at 7-4 and sealing the 4-3 dual match win for the Hurricane.

Tulsa will hit the road next week to take on San Diego (6-3) on Friday, Feb. 24. Then, the Hurricane will stop at Pepperdine (1-5) on Sunday, Feb. 26.

Singles
1. #58 Kody Pearson (TU) def. #109 Roni Hietaranta (NEB) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4)
2. Stefan Hampe (TU) def. Shunya Maruyama (NEB) 6-3, 6-1
3. Leo Linquet (NEB) def. Callum Gale (TU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
4. Lars Johann (NEB) def. Volodymyr Zakharov (TU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
5. Ezequiel Santalla (TU) def. William Gleason (NEB) 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
6. Calvin Mueller (NEB) def. Daniel Siddall (TU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-0

Doubles
1. #51 Kody Pearson/Connor Di Marco (TU) def. Nic Wiedenhorn/Shunya Maruyama (NEB) 6-3
2. Adham Gaber/Ezequiel Santalla (TU) vs. William Gleason/Calvin Mueller (NEB) 2-4, unfinished
3. Timothy Seger/Daniel Siddall (TU) def. Roni Hietaranta/Lars Johann (NEB) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (2,3,6,5,4,1)

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