Men's Tennis Tops Detroit Mercy 5-2

Sunday, March 18

LOUISVILLE, KY

5:00 PM

University of Louisville

Detroit-Mercy

March 18, 2018 | Men's Tennis

Rex Ecarma Post Match Interview Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff Post Match Interview

Cards finish Sunday doubleheader with a 5-2 win over Detroit Mercy

By: Lori Korte

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville men's tennis team defeated Detroit Mercy 5-2 in the second half of a doubleheader Sunday evening. The Cardinals (11-4) defeated Boston College 6-1 in a Sunday morning match.

"I was really proud of the effort of these guys," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "The Boston College win was a good win. That's a team that had a chance to win against Notre Dame and gave Virginia all they could handle on the road in Charlottesville. With Detroit Mercy, we knew they were going to be good. They have big, athletic guys and they're not afraid of ACC, they're just a bunch of tough dudes who gave us all we could handle. We were led by Chris (Kougoucheff) and Parker (Wynn) who clinched the doubles, Nicolas Rouanet had a great win at No. 4 and it was great to see Clement Filho back on the court."

Louisville took the first point of the match with doubles wins on courts three and one. The duo of junior George Hedley and sophomore Fredrik Moe gave Louisville the early edge with a 6-3 win over Alvaro Arce and Gvidas Motuzas at the three spot. The other doubles matches were each locked in a 5-5 tie with the Titans' Nathan Ponton and Luka Sosik edging juniors Federico Gomez and Brandon Lancaster 7-5 to even the doubles tally at 1-1. The first point of the match came down to court one where Louisville's 22^nd-ranked pair of Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff and Parker Wynn and Detroit Mercy's Jenya Sirous and Artem Vasheshnikov played to a 6-6 tie with the Cardinals prevailing in a 7-5 tiebreaker to clinch the point.

In singles action, junior Nicolas Rouanet defeated Jenya Sirous 6-1, 6-2 to make the score 2-0. Morin-Kougoucheff quickly followed with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Vasheshnikov on court one to push the Cardinals' lead to 3-0. Wynn delivered a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Nathan Ponton at the two-spot to secure the win for the Cards.

The Titans (8-7) got on the scoreboard at the No. 3 slot where Gomez fell 6-4 to Soskic, but rebounded to take the second set 6-3 to force a super tiebreak third set which Soskic won 10-6 to bring the score to 4-1.

The Cards answered on court five where sophomore Clement Filho topped Motuzas 6-2, 6-3 to give Louisville a 5-1 lead.

The match finished at the No 6 spot, where senior Santiago Salazer was edged by Arce 7-6 (11-9) in the first set and fell 6-3 in the second.

Louisville will return to action on March 23 when the Cardinals play host to No. 36 Clemson in an ACC matchup.

Louisville 5, Detroit Mercy 2
March 18, 2018 at Louisville, Ky.
(Bass-Rudd Tennis Center)
Singles
1. C. Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU) def. Artem Vasheshnikov (UDM) 6-3, 6-3
2. Parker Wynn (LOU) def. Nathan Ponton (UDM) 6-3, 7-5
3. Luka Soskic (UDM) def. Federico Gomez (LOU) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6)
4. Nicolas Rouanet (LOU) def. Jenva Sirous (UDM) 6-3, 6-1
5. Clement Filho (LOU) def. Gvidas Motuzas (UDM) 6-2, 6-3
6. Alvaro Arce (UDM) def. Santiago Salazar (LOU) 7-6 (11-9), 6-2
Doubles
1. #22 C. Morin-Kougoucheff/Parker Wynn (LOU) def. Jenva Sirous/Artem Vasheshnikov (UDM) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Nathan Ponton/Luka Soskic (UDM) def. Brandon Lancaster/Federico Gomez (LOU) 7-5
3. George Hedley/Fredrik Moe (LOU) def. Alvaro Arce/Gvidas Motuzas (UDM) 6-3

Match Notes:
Detroit Mercy 8-7
Louisville Men's Tennis 11-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,1,2,3,5,6)
T-2:45 A-89