Alabama Men’s Tennis Falls in 4-3 Heart-Breaker to No. 19 Tennessee in SEC Quarterfinals

Friday, April 27

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

4 p.m.

Alabama

#19 Tennessee

Alabama Men’s Tennis Falls in 4-3 Heart-Breaker to No. 19 Tennessee in SEC Quarterfinals

4/27/2018 9:25:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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The Crimson Tide led 3-2, before falling, 4-3, on Friday night

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama men's tennis dropped a 4-3 heart-breaker to No. 19 Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the 2018 SEC Men's Tennis Tournament on Friday night at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. The Crimson Tide (18-12) led 3-2 in the thrilling match before the Volunteers (20-7) came back to win on courts five and six to steal the victory.

"I don't think anyone could've scripted a match like this," head coach George Husack said. "It's got to be the most exciting match of my 23 years of coaching. The doubles matches were unbelievable, we got some gifts from the heavens and in singles we definitely had our opportunities and really it's a great experience both teams, both players, and the fans. It was a tough one to swallow of course, but they fought their hearts out tonight."

In doubles play, Tennessee took the first match at the No. 1 spot with No. 13 Touliatos/Valero defeating the No. 30 pair in the country in junior Mazen Osama and sophomore Edson Ortiz.

The other two matches in doubles competition were tightly-contested with both going into tiebreakers. After falling down 5-2 in the set, the sophomore tandem of Alexey Nesterov and Thibault Cancel bounced back to tie up Stodder/Walton 6-6. In the tiebreaker, the duo found themselves down, 6-2, before once again battling back to win the tiebreaker, 8-6. On the next court, sophomore Zhe Zhou and freshman Patrick Kaukovalta found themselves in a back-and-forth affair, before finally breaking through and defeating Muamba/Jones, 11-9, in the tiebreaker.

In singles, a scorching-hot Nesterov extended his record to 3-0 in singles play in the SEC Tournament with a dominant win over No. 117 Adam Walton to put UA up 2-0. Tennessee answered with a win on courts four and three to tie the match up at 2-2. No. 18 Osama extended his winning streak over nationally-ranked opponents to four with a three-set barn-burner against No. 14 Timo Stodder, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

With Alabama up 3-2, Luca Wiedenmann came back to best freshman Riccardo Roberto, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and Preston Touliatos ended the match when he battled in the third set to win over Zhou, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.

Alabama will look ahead to the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Selection Show beginning on Tuesday, May 1 at 4:30 p.m. CT.

Alabama Results:

Singles vs. Tennessee:

No. 18 Mazen Osama def. No. 14 Timo Stodder, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3

Luis Valero def. Patrick Kaukovalta, 6-3, 6-1

Scott Jones def. Edson Ortiz, 7-6 (3), 6-1

Alexey Nesterov def. No. 117 Adam Walton, 6-2, 6-1

Preston Touliatos def. Zhe Zhou, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5

Luca Wiedenmann def. Riccardo Roberto, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Order of Finish: 4, 2, 3, 1, 6, 5

Doubles vs. Tennessee:

No. 13 Touliatos/Valero def. No. 30 Osama/Ortiz, 6-1

Cancel/Nesterov def. Stodder/Walton, 7-6 (6)

Zhou/Kaukovalta def. Muamba/Jones, 7-6 (9)

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3

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