MINNEAPOLIS – The Omaha men's tennis team finished its fall season last weekend at the ITA Central Regional tournament at Baseline Tennis Center.
Two Mavericks earned victories in singles on Thursday. Sophomore
Nathan Reekie got UNO its first win of the regional, defeating Piotr Smietana of Iowa), 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Junior
Matt Dunn handed South Dakota State's Alex Reinke his first loss of the tournament in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.
Senior
Marko Minic also lost in three sets, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-1, to John Nogalski of St. Louis. Sophomore
Luke Moorhead dropped a three-setter, 6-0, 1-6, 6-3, to the Billiken's Juan Calero.
Fifth-seeded
Razvan Grigorescu received a first-round bye then defeated SDSU's Emmerson Styles in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. Dunn fell 6-2, 6-3 to No. 8 No. 8 Tristan Meraut of Oklahoma State. The Cowboys' Eleftherios Theodorou defeated Reekie 6-4, 6-1.
Grigorescu's tournament ended in the third round with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss to Minnesota's Marino Alpeza.
Doubles got underway, and the duo of Reekie and
Alex Woodward took down Nebraska's Chris Dean and Rok Krizaj, 8-7. Dunn and Moorhead topped Henrique Stemmer and Aidan DeBoer of SDSU, 8-5. Grigorescu and Ouattara vanquished Creighton's Stratton Brown and Armando Gandini, 8-3.
Day two was not kind to the Mavericks doubles pairings. Grigorescu and Ouattara fell 8-7 (5) to Oral Roberts' Jan Penach and Kenneth Allen Boykin. Reekie and Woodward fell 8-2 to Arkansas' Oscar Mesquida and Josh Howard-Tripp. Andrea Caligiana and Miroslav Herzan of Wichita State moved past Dunn and Moorhead, 8-1.
"I saw some good things from the guys this weekend but playing against this caliber, more importantly, shows us where we need to improve," said head coach
Tyson Thomas. "We want to compete with the upper tier teams, and after this weekend we know we need to get back to work."
Singles
First Round
Nathan Reekie d. Piotr Smietana (Iowa), 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
Alex Koca (Creighton) d.
Alex Woodward, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
Toby Boyer (Nebraska) d.
Abdoul Ouattara, 6-3, 6-2
Juan Calero (St. Louis) d.
Luke Moorhead, 6-0, 1-6, 6-3
Matt Dunn d. Alex Reinke (SDSU), 6-2, 6-1
John Nogalski (St. Louis) d.
Marko Minic, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-1
Second Round
Eleftherios Theodorou (Okla. State) d. Reekie, 6-4, 6-1
No. 8 Tristan Meraut (Okla. State) d.
Matt Dunn, 6-2, 6-3
No. 5
Razvan Grigorescu d. Emmerson Styles (SDSU), 6-4, 6-2
Third Round
Marino Alpeza (Minn.) d. Grigorescu, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
Consolation Round
Moorhead d. Stemmer (SDSU), 6-2, 4-0 (ret.)
Clark (UMKC) d. Minic, 6-2, 6-2
Martinez (North Dakota) d. Woodward, 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
First Round
Reekie/Woodward d. Dean/Krizaj (Nebraska), 8-7 (0)
Moorhead/Dunn d. Stemmer/DeBoer (SDSU), 8-5
Grigorescu/Ouattara d. Brown/Gandini (Creighton), 8-3
Second Round
Penach/Boykin (Oral Roberts) d. Grigorescu/Ouattara, 8-7 (5)
Mesquida/Howard-Tripp (Arkansas) d. Reekie/Woodward, 8-2
Caligiana/Herzan (Wichita State) d. Moorhead/Dunn, 8-1
