The American Athletic Conference placed four teams in the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship, but the conference's quartet was unable to get a first-round win as SMU and South Florida fell 4-3 in their respective matches, and Memphis and Tulsa were on the short end of 4-1 scores.
LSU 4, SMU 3
AUSTIN, Texas – SMU men's tennis lost to LSU 3-4 in Saturday's NCAA Tournament First Round action. After falling behind 1-3, the Mustangs battled back to tie the score 3-3. They couldn't quite complete the comeback victory, falling short by just one point. SMU concludes its season as AAC Champions and with a 22-7 record.
The Mustangs got on the board first, clinching a tight doubles battle on a court three deuce point. After falling behind 1-3 on court one, Adam Neff and Pranav Kumar battled back with four straight games. With the Mustangs leading 5-4, they broke LSU's top pairing to win the match. LSU bounced back with a 6-3 victory on court two over Ivan Thamma and Caleb Chakravarthi. With the doubles point on the line, Huntley Allen and Julian Steinhausen delivered on court three. Up 5-4 at 40 all, Steinhausen fired an ace to clinch the doubles point for SMU.
LSU came storming back to take a 3-1 lead with victories on courts one, six, and five. The Tigers' No. 29 ranked Ronald Hohmann defeated Neff 6-4, 6-2 on court one. Shortly after, SMU freshman Louis Cloud fell 1-6, 4-6 on court six. LSU's Boris Kozlov knocked off Steinhausen on court five to pull the Tigers to within one point of the match victory.
Liam Krall brought the Mustangs to within one, winning in straight sets on court two. The sophomore won a critical first set tiebreak before running away with the second set 6-2.
Kumar leveled the score at 3-3 with a three-set victory on court four. Kumar took the first set 6-3, but dropped the second 2-6. He left no questions with a dominant 6-0 third set to secure the win.
The NCAA First Round match would come down to court three where the Mustangs' Chakravarthi faced LSU's Kent Hunter. Chakravarthi won the first set 6-2 before Hunter took the second 6-2. After being tied 2-2 in the third, Hunter took the next four games to clinch for LSU.
MIAMI (FLA.) 4, SOUTH FLORIDA 3
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of South Florida men's tennis team's season came to a hard-fought end on Friday in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at the University of Florida's Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, falling to No. 29 Miami (Fla.), 4-3 The Bulls end the season 14-11 while the Hurricanes improve to 17-9 on the year.
The Bulls, ranked No. 45 in the most recent ITA rankings, hopped on the 29th-ranked Hurricanes quickly during the doubles portion of the dual to take the point from Miami as South Florida was on top on all three courts.
Alvin Tudorica and Sergio Gomez Montesa got things going with a 6-4 win on court three before Rithvik Bollipalli and Bruno Oliveira sealed the deal with an impressive 6-3 win on court one.
Chase Ferguson and Ivan Yatsuk found themselves up on court two, 6-5 when Bollipalli and Oliveira secured the point.
In singles, Tudorica gave South Florida a 2-0 lead with a gut-check win on court four. Tudorica won in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, but had to come from 0-2 down in the second set to secure the victory.
After Miami took court three, 6-3, 6-4, for its first point of the dual, Ferguson pulled the Bulls to within one point of advancing to the second round, and a potential matchup with the defending national champion Gators, with a 6-4, 6-4 win on court two. Unfortunately, that was the last point of the day for South Florida.
The Hurricanes cut the Bulls' advantage to 3-2 with a come-from-behind three-set win on court one, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 and evened the dual at three-all with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win on court six.
Miami closed out the comeback by going three sets on five for a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0 win.
DUKE 4, MEMPHIS 1
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Memphis Tiger men's tennis team saw its season come to a close with a 4-1 loss to No. 21 Duke in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship Friday in Knoxville, Tenn.
No. 42 Memphis concludes its campaign with a 16-8 record. The Tigers were competing in their eighth NCAA Tournament in the last 10 seasons.
American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year Pablo Alemany Malea finished 19-0 in singles on the year with a 6-4, 6-3 win Friday against Duke's Faris Khan. Also victorious on the day was Memphis' No. 31 doubles tandem of David Stevenson/Jeremy Taylor, who started the day off with a 6-2 win in the first doubles spot.
Stevenson/Taylor will next compete in doubles competition in the NCAA Tournament May 23-28 at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Ill.
TEXAS A&M 4, TULSA 1
WACO, Texas ? The Tulsa men's tennis team clawed its way back, forcing third sets in four of the six singles matches, but fell to No. 25 Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday evening in Waco Texas. The Hurricane finish the season 15-12.
After winning the doubles point, the Aggies claimed consecutive victories at No. 2 and No. 3 singles to take a 3-0 advantage. Tulsa continued to battle, as Kody Pearson and Adham Gaber, who both dropped their first sets, climbed back to force a third set.
Callum Gale and Connor Di Marco, who each won their first sets 7-5, also were headed for a third set.
Gale rolled into the third set, going up 3-0 before winning 6-2 to give Tulsa its lone point of the match with a victory at No. 6 singles.
Gaber, who forced a third set tiebreaker after being down 4-5, was edged out by Texas A&M's Giulio Perego 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3).
While Tulsa's season comes to an end as a team, Kody Pearson will represent the Hurricane at the 2022 NCAA Singles Championship, starting on May 23rd in Champaign, Illinois.