Sophomore Brandon Lancaster’s 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 win at No. 5 singles lifted the University of Louisville men’s tennis team to a 4-3 win over visiting Purdue Friday evening the Bass- Rudd Tennis Center. The Cardinals improve to 4-1 and pushed their home record to 4-0.
The Cardinals opened the match by taking the doubles point with wins on courts two and three. The duo of Lancaster and fellow sophomore George Hedley cruised to a 6-1 win over Dominik Sochurek and Athell Bennett at the No. 2 spot to give Louisville an early edge. Junior Nicolas Rouanet and sophomore Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff followed with a 6-1 decision against Stephan Koenigsfest and Benjamin Ugate to secure the first point of the match at the three-spot. Meanwhile on court one, senior Sean Donohue and freshman Parker Wynn were leading fourth-ranked Gergely Madarasz and Ricky Medinilla 4-1 when their match was halted.
“Purdue has a veteran team that I expect to see in the NCAA tournament, they are certainly one of the better Big Ten teams,” said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. “For us to come out in doubles like that and just play light’s out in doubles and give us a 1-0 lead, I was ecstatic.”
In singles action, Wynn gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead when he quickly dispatched Koenigsfest 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3. The Boilermakers (3-3) answered on at the four spot where Ugarte, No. 70 in the ITA singles rankings, defeated Hedley 6-4, 6-3.
On court one, Morin-Kougoucheff jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Ricky Medinilla pulled ahead 5-3 before the Louisville sophomore battled back for a 7-6 (7-3) win. Morin-Kougoucheff went on to take the second set 6-4 giving the Cards a 3-1 lead.
The Boilermakers struck again at the two-spot where Nicolas was locked in battle with Madarasz. The 49th-ranked Purdue player outlasted Rouanet 7-6 in a marathon first set and won the second set 6-3 as Rouanet fought through leg cramps.
At the No. 6 spot, Purdue’s Athell Bennett defeated freshman Clement Filho 6-4 in the first set and the players traded games before Bennett prevailed 7-6 (8-6) to tie the score at 3-3.
The match came down to court five where Lancaster and Sochurek were locked in a third-set tiebreaker. The sophomore from Louisville, Ky., claimed a 6-3 win in the first set, and Sochurek took the second by a score of 6-3 to force a deciding third set. Lancaster fell behind early, but rallied to tie the match at 6-6 before winning 7-2 in the tiebreaker to clinch the match for the Cardinals.
‘I was down a break the whole third set. He broke me to go up 3-1 and then 4-2. All the people were watching (Christopher) Kougoucheff’s match and when it was over they come over and started supporting me and I felt I was able to get the break back because of them. I felt like I was in control now because he had such a big serve to be on serve with him. It was really just the support that got me through the match, because I was tired, but my teammates were unbelievable with their cheering, they were so loud.”
Louisville will return to action on Sunday when No. 1 Virginia (1-0) visits the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.
Louisville Men’s Tennis 4, Purdue 3
Feb 03, 2017 at Louisville, Ky.
(Bass-Rudd Tennis Center)
Singles
1. C. Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU) def. Ricky Medinilla (PUR) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4
2. #49 Gergely Madarasz (PUR) def. Nicolas Rouanet (LOU) 7-6, 6-3
3. Parker Wynn (LOU) def. Stephan Koenigsfest (PUR) 6-2, 6-2
4. #70 Benjamin Ugarte (PUR) def. George Hedley (LOU) 6-4, 6-3
5. Brandon Lancaster (LOU) def. Dominik Sochurek (PUR) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2)
6. Athell Bennett (PUR) def. Clement Filho (LOU) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6)
Doubles
1. Sean Donohue/Parker Wynn (LOU) def. #4 Gergely Madarasz/Ricky Medinilla (PUR) 4-1
2. George Hedley/Brandon Lancaster (LOU) def. Dominik Sochurek/Athell Bennett (PUR) 6-1
3. C. Morin-Kougoucheff/Nicolas Rouanet (LOU) def. Stephan Koenigsfest/Benjamin Ugarte (PUR) 6-1
Match Notes:
Purdue 3-2
Louisville Men’s Tennis 3-1
Order of finish: Doubles (23); Singles (3,4,1,2,6,5)
Lori Korte
Assistant Sports Information Director
University of Louisville Athletics
