Men's Tennis Turns In Epic Performance At the ITA Regionals
NEW ORLEANS (Sept. 27-29, 2024) – The Our Lady of the Lake University men's tennis team had a great weekend at the 2024 NAIA Gulf ITA Regional Tournament hosted by Xavier University of Louisiana from Friday, Sept. 27-Sunday, Sept. 29.
Head Coach Dave Watts said, "It was an amazing weekend for OLLU tennis. The players fought so, so hard the entire weekend. Two years ago, we had Johan Favelin make a semifinal, and we were ecstatic. Last year, we were fortunate enough to have Kyllian Savary win the tournament. This year to have three of the four semifinalists be OLLU players is amazing."
No. 1 ranked Kyllian Savary had a first-round bye and started his play in the Round of 32, where he defeated Spencer Matz from Loyola, 6-3, 6-4.
Saints' newcomer Aymeric Bruno also started his play in the Round of 32, and he defeated Fabio Veiga Del Trigo from Texas A&M-Texarkana 6-2, 6-0. Jaroslav Majsajdr won his match against Sam Izrael from Loyola, 7-6 [16-14), 6-1. No. 3 ranked David Ekpenyong also won, defeating Alvaro Tormo from Texarkana 6-3, 6-1.
Savary continued in the 16th round, defeating Hippolyte de Preville from Loyola, 6-4, 6-2. Bruno defeated No. 5 ranked Matt Shearer from William Carey University 6-3, 6-2. Majsajdr overpowered Daniel Crownie from Dillard University 6-2, 6-1, and Ekpenyong defeated Artur Ibragimov from William Carey, 6-1, 6-3.
In the quarterfinals, Savary beat No. 8 ranked Andrew Otzenberger from Texarkana, 6-5, 5-7, [10-6]. Bruno fought through a win over No. 4 ranked Manuel Arias from Xavier, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), [10-4]. Majsajdr lost his match to No. 7 ranked Yassine Ben Jemaa 4-6, 6-3, [10-7]. Ekpenyong came out ahead of No. 6 ranked Nereo Suarez from XULA 6-1, 6-2.
OLLU teammates Savary and Bruno faced each other in the semifinals round, with Savary coming out ahead 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Ekpenyong defeated Jemaa 6-1, 6-2.
In the championships on Sunday, teammates Ekpenyong and Savary battled each other, and Ekpenyong won 1-6, 2-1, retired.
Watts commented, "A huge congrats to Kyllian and David for making the final and battling it out. I wish that Kyllian would have been at full health so that he and David could've finished the match, but nothing should be taken away from David's performance. He had an unbelievable tournament and deserved to be crowned champion."
In the Round of 16 doubles competition, No. 1 ranked doubles team Savary and Bruno defeated Alvaro Tormo and Craig Crookston from Texarkana, 8-3. No. 3 ranked doubles team Ekpenyong and Majsajdr beat de Preville and Remus Hebhang-Balan from Loyola, 8-4.
Savary and Bruno defeated Samuel Motazed and Izrael from Loyola, 8-2 in the quarterfinals. Ekpenyong and Majsajdr beat Jemaa and Siddarth Sengheeth from Dillard 8-6.
In the semifinals, Savary and Bruno lost to Arias and Suarez from Xavier 9-8 (8-6). Ekpenyong and Majsajdr defeated Islam Orynbassar and William Crowe from William Carey, 8-5.
In the double's championship match, Ekpenyong and Majsajdr lost to Manuel Arias and Suarez from Cavier, 7-5, 1-6, [10-4].
"We also had great results in doubles, Watts said. "Kyllian and Aymeric came up just short in the semis losing in a nail biter of a tiebreak. Jara and David made it all the way to finals losing to the same team in a third-set tiebreak. They all competed so well. Now we need to get them ready for nationals."
What's next
The Saints will compete at the ITA Nationals on Oct. 10-13 in Rome, Ga.
