Tulsa Men Earn Bid to NIT Championship with 4-1 Victory Over Santa Clara

Tuesday, May 7

Bradenton, Fla.

8:00 a.m.

Tulsa

(4) #59 Santa Clara

Tulsa Men Earn Bid to NIT Championship with 4-1 Victory Over Santa Clara

5/7/2024 12:50:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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BRADENTON, Fla. — The top-seeded and 68^th-ranked Tulsa men's tennis team has advanced to the UTR Sports NIT Championship Final with a mighty 4-1 team victory over four-seed Santa Clara in Tuesday's semifinal match.

Winners of eight of their last nine dual matches, the 17-13 Golden Hurricane will face No. 2 University of the Pacific in Wednesday's championship match at 8 a.m. (CT)/9 a.m. (ET). No. 59 Santa Clara concludes their season at 19-8.

Tulsa laid claim to the doubles point in two completed matches. Seniors Thiago Pernas and Volodymyr Zakharov secured the third position 6-3 before sophomore Timothy Carlsson Seger and redshirt freshman Gus Tettamble outpaced Tiago Boschmans and Lukas Maskow, 7-5, for the doubles clinch. Senior Callum Gale and true freshman Alex Okonkwo left their match unfinished down 6-5 at the No. 1 spot.

Santa Clara's lone point resulted from consecutive 6-2 set wins by Guillaume Dalmasso at the No. 2 spot. Okonkwo would follow up less than two minutes later in the fifth slot with his second straight-set win in the tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Boschmans. Okonkwo, now 15-12, joins teammates Gale (15-12), Victor Tosetto (17-14) and Seger (18-11) as the fourth TU player to reach 15 singles wins this season.

Pernas got on the board next for the Hurricane. Against No. 115 Christian Lerby atop the singles chart, Pernas took a 6-1, 5-2 lead and was within one point of securing the position at 40-all. Lerby would convert, however, and win the next three games to lead 6-5 in the second frame. Pernas forced a seven-point tiebreak set at six games all, kept his composure and never trailed on the way to a 7-3 tiebreaker finish to put Tulsa up 3-1 on the Broncos. Pernas improved to 13-5 overall and remains perfect at 2-0 in the No. 1 spot for Tulsa.

It was a race for the dual-match clinch as Seger and Tettamble, who clinched the doubles point together, were each one game away from victory. It would be Tettamble, a native of St. Louis, Mo., who finshed first in a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 win over Alexander Eriksson at the six-spot. Tettamble earned his first career dual-match clinch, while Seger left his match unfinished at 6-2, 2-6, 5-5 in the fourth position and Zakharov abandoned his match in the third position at 3-6, 7-5, 1-1.

Singles
1. Thiago Pernas (TLS) def. #115 Christian Lerby (SCU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-3)
2. Guillaume Dalmasso (SCU) def. Callum Gale (TLS) 6-2, 6-2
3. Volodymyr Zakharov (TLS) vs. Sebastian Buxman (SCU) 3-6, 7-5, 1-1, unfinished
4. Timothy Seger (TLS) vs. Lukas Maskow (SCU) 6-2, 2-6, 5-5, unfinished
5. Alex Okonkwo (TLS) def. Tiago Boschmans (SCU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Gus Tettamble (TLS) def. Alexander W Eriksson (SCU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-0

Doubles
1. Callum Gale/Alex Okonkwo (TLS) vs. Guillaume Dalmasso/Christian Lerby (SCU) 5-6, unfinished
2. Timothy Seger/Gus Tettamble (TLS) def. Tiago Boschmans/Lukas Maskow (SCU) 7-5
3. Thiago Pernas/Volodymyr Zakharov (TLS) def. Sebastian Buxman/Arjun Honnappa (SCU) 6-3

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