Men's Tennis Opens 2017 Season with Doubleheader Sweep

Friday, January 20

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

12 p.m.

University of Louisville

SAMFORD

Men's Tennis Opens 2017 Season with Doubleheader Sweep

January 20, 2017 | Men's Tennis

Rex Ecarma Post Match Interview vs. Samford Photo Gallery vs. Samford Rex Ecarma Post Match Interview vs. Chicago State Photo Gallery vs. Chicago State

Cards beat Samford 5-2 and Chicago State 7-0 to open the season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville men's tennis team opened the 2017 season with a doubleheader sweep of Samford and Chicago State Friday afternoon at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. The Cardinals (2-0) defeated Samford 5-2 in the first match of the day and followed with a 7-0 victory over Chicago State.

In the opening match, Samford (0-2) jumped to an early lead after competitive doubles point. Louisville senior Sean Donohue and freshman Parker Wynn gave the Cardinals an early edge with a 6-3 win over Jake Faundez and Hugo Moreira on court one. The Bulldogs answered at the No. 3 position where Justin Ghavami and Curran Verma defeated sophomore Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff and freshman Fredrik Moe 6-4. The first point of the match came down to court two where Samford's Eduardo Sanchez and Max Rebol outlasted sophomore George Hedley and junior Ciro Lampasas 7-5 to put the Bulldogs up 1-0.

In singles action, the Cards (1-0) quickly answered with Morin-Kougoucheff's 6-1, 6-0 win over Ghavami at the top seed. Sophomore Brandon Lancaster cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 decision against Verma at the two-spot to pull the Cards ahead 2-1. Freshman Clement Filho defeated Moreira 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 to bring the score to 3-1.

The match was decided on court four where Donohue battled Sanchez to a 7-5 first set win and took the second set 6-4 to give the Cards a 4-1 advantage. On court four, Samford's Faundez outlasted Wynn 7-6 (8-6) in the first set, but the Louisville freshman rebounded to take the next two sets 6-2, 6-1 to make the score 5-1.

Playing at the No. 4 spot, Lampasas picked up a 6-3 win over Rebol, but fell 6-4, 6-4 in the next two sets to make the final match score 5-2.

"We knew Samford was going to be a tough match," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "Rahim Ismail is a very, very good coach who had his guys prepared and they jumped on us in doubles. They won more clutch points in doubles than we did, but what I liked is that our guys bounced back and won five out of six singles… We're going to try some new things in doubles, but I'm definitely still high on this team."

The Cardinals were back in action three hours later, this time against Chicago State. In that match, Louisville swept through doubles as the duo of Wynn and Donohue topped Gonzalo Martinez at the No. 1 spot and Hedley and Lancaster teamed to beat Rohan Wattly and Felix Savard 6-2.

In singles action, the Cards swept five matches in straight sets with Chicago State forfeiting the No. 6 position. Lancaster put Louisville on the scoreboard in singles with a 6-1, 6-0 decision against Cody Wurzelbacher at the five-spot. Wynn followed with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Martinez at No. 2. Morin-Kougoucheff defeated Felix Savard 6-2, 6-1 on court one to put the Cards up 4-0. Louisville got its fifth point of the match on court three where Donohue bested Wattley 6-2, 6-1 and Hedley's 6-2, 7-6 win over Gonzalez brought the final score to 7-0.

"I think Chicago State is a much-improved team from last year," said Ecarma. "I think Jack Barton is doing good job bringing in more talent. Our guys were really prepared, being our second match of the day, they were relaxed. It was a dominant performance and I think as we go, this team will only get better. I think Sean did a good job of clinching earlier today against Samford and Chris played well at No. 1 all day and Brandon has been amazing, if he was a baseball player, he would be the closer. He is rock-solid right now."

Louisville will return to action on Sunday at No. 13 Northwestern.

Louisville 5, Samford 2
Jan 20, 2017 at Louisville, Ky.
(Bass-Rudd Tennis Center)
Singles
1. Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU) def. Justin Ghavami (SAM) 6-1, 6-0
2. Parker Wynn (LOU) def. Jake Faundez (SAM) 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-1
3. Sean Donohue (LOU) def. Eduardo L. Sanchez (SAM) 7-5, 6-4
4. Max Rebol (SAM) def. Ciro Lampasas (LOU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Brandon Lancaster (LOU) def. Curran Verma (SAM) 6-0, 6-0
6. Clement Filho (LOU) def. Hugo Moreira (SAM) 6-1, 6-0
Order of finish: (1,5,6,3,2,4)
Doubles
1. Sean Donohue/Parker Wynn (LOU) def. Jake Faundez/Hugo Moreira (SAM) 6-3
2. Eduardo L. Sanchez/Max Rebol (SAM) def. George Hedley/Ciro Lampasas (LOU) 7-5
3. Justin Ghavami/Curran Verma (SAM) def. Fredrik Moe/C. Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU) 6-4
Order of finish: (1,3,2)

Match Notes:
Samford Men's Tennis 0-2
Louisville Men's Tennis 1-0
T-2:58 A-112

Louisville Men's Tennis 7, Chicago State 0
Jan 20, 2017 at Louisville, Ky
(Bass-Rudd Tennis Center)
Singles
1. C. Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU) def. Savard, Felix (CSU) 6-2, 6-1
2. Parker Wynn (LOU) def. Martinez, Gonzalo (CSU) 6-0, 6-3
3. Sean Donohue (LOU) def. Wattley, Rohan (CSU) 6-2, 6-1
4. George Hedley (LOU) def. Gonzalez, Christian (CSU) 6-2, 7-6
5. Brandon Lancaster (LOU) def. Wurzelbacher, Cody (CSU) 6-1, 6-0
6. Santiago Salazar (LOU) def. No player (CSU), by forfeit
Doubles
1. Parker Wynn/Sean Donohue (LOU) def. Martinez, Gonzalo/Gonzalez, Christian (CSU) 6-1
2. George Hedley/Brandon Lancaster (LOU) def. Wattley, Rohan/Savard, Felix (CSU) 6-2
3. Ciro Lampasas/C. Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU) def. No player/No player (CSU), by forfeit

Match Notes:
Chicago State 0-1
Louisville Men's Tennis 2-0
Order of finish: Doubles (13,2); Singles (6,5,2,1,3,4)
Chicago State: No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles forfeited
T-1:54 A-93