Strong Performances in Singles Play Push Tulsa to 4-3 Win over Tulane

Friday, March 1

New Orleans, La.

1:00 p.m.

Tulsa

Tulane

Photo by: Bill Powell

Strong Performances in Singles Play Push Tulsa to 4-3 Win over Tulane

3/1/2024 8:20:00 PM | Men's Tennis

NEW ORLEANS, La. — After a two hour and 15-minute rain delay and over four hours of tough competition, the Tulsa men's tennis team squeaked by the Tulane Green Wave in a 4-3 thriller Friday with four singles wins, capped off by a stellar two-set win by freshman Victor Tosetto in the No. 6 position. The Golden Hurricane snapped the seven-match losing skid in New Orleans, improving to 4-7, while the Green Wave dropped to 2-8.

It was a scramble for the doubles point as all three matchups in the lineup went to tiebreaker sets at six games all. It all came down to the No. 1 position after Tulane escaped in a 7-3 tiebreaker win in the third position and redshirt freshman Gus Tettamble and senior Callum Gale prevailed in their tiebreaker, 7-5, in the second slot. No. 55-ranked Pierce Rollins and Timothy Carlsson Seger battled for 57 minutes, but in the end, the Green Wave duo of Alex Bancila and Luc Hoeijmans took control at 3-2 in the tiebreak and never looked back on the way to a 7-6 (7-4) finish to secure the opening score for Tulane.

Tulsa bounced back in a major way in singles action. Kicking things off was Seger, who never trailed in fourth spot, taking the position with ease 6-2, 6-1 to tie up the dual at 1-1.

Senior Thiago Pernas returned to the lineup after missing the last four contests due to injury and grabbed a straight-set victory at 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 3 position. Pernas trailed only twice against his Green Wave opponent at 1-0 and 2-1 in the first set but otherwise dominated, leading by as many as three game points multiple times on the way to his first singles win since January.

Gale extended the Hurricane's lead to 3-1 when he prevailed in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, over Luka Petrovic. In the first set, Gale led 5-2 before Petrovic rattled off five straight game wins to take the first stanza. From there, Gale never trailed again as the Australian cruised in the next two frames to grab his fifth win of the dual-match season.

Tulane came back to knot it up at 3-3 when the Green Wave earned a 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5 win at the top of the lineup and grabbed a 6-2, 6-2 decision at No. 5 Singles.

It all came down to freshman Victor Tosetto in the No. 6 spot against Rafael De Alba. In the first stanza, neither athlete led by more than one game point on the way to a 6-6 tiebreaker set. In the tiebreak, Tosetto took advantage of a 5-1 run before closing out 7-4 to win the frame. In set two, he used a 3-0 lead to cruise to a 6-2 match-clinching finish to close out the day's action.

It's the second time this season that Tosetto, a native of Porto Alegre, Brazil, clinched a 4-3 win for Tulsa at the No. 6 position after doing so against the Princeton Tigers in the opening round of ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 27.

The Tulsa men remain on the road to take on Ole Miss (5-5) in Oxford, Mississippi, on Sunday, March 3, at 11 a.m.

Singles
1. Billy Suarez (TUL) def. Pierce Rollins (TLS) 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5
2. Callum Gale (TLS) def. Alex Bancila (TUL) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
3. Thiago Pernas (TLS) def. Luka Petrovic (TUL) 6-3, 6-3
4. Timothy Carlsson Seger (TLS) def. Fynn Kuenkler (TUL) 6-2, 6-1
5. Luc Hoeijmans (TUL) def. Alex Okonkwo (TLS) 6-2, 6-2
6. Victor Tosetto (TLS) vs. Rafael De Alba (TUL) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2

Doubles
1. Alex Bancila/Luc Hoeijmans def. #55 Pierce Rollins/Timothy Carlsson 7-6 (7-4)
2. Gus Tettamble/Callum Gale def. Billy Suarez/Benji Jacobson 7-6 (7-5)
3. Luka Petrovic/Sam Scherer def. Alex Okonkwo/Victor Tosetto 7-6 (7-3)

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