INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 5-ranked University of Indianapolis men's tennis team is the 2023 GLVC men's tennis champions, earning the program's 12th title and it's first since 2019. The East's top seeded Greyhounds defeated the west top seeded No. 21 Southwest Baptist Bearcats by a score of 4-1, with the Bearcats being the first GLVC-foe to take a point off the Hounds this season. Prior to the match, the Hounds carried an eight-match sweep streak.
Head Coach
Malik Tabet was awarded 2023 GLVC Coach of the Year for his efforts this season where the Hounds went a perfect 8-0 in conference action with a 18-2 record of this point.
INS AND OUTS
The aggressive play that the Hounds had performed all season continued to be a quality strategy as the Hounds opened up with doubles. Despite the result, the Hounds started on their heels with the No. 32 ranked pair of Youssef Nabil and Alvaro Nunez upended the Hounds No. 2 pair
Erwan Momo Andre and
Matthieu Derache.
That 1-0 lead in doubles did not linger on long, as the highly ranked battle between the No. 1 pair Edgar Desouet and
Tom Zeuch and the No. 14 duo of Marcio Silva and Makary Adamek came to fruition. The No. 1 pair, however, proved their ranking and kept the Hounds hopes alive in doubles with a 6-3 victory. That victory teed up a down to the wire tiebreaker match in No. 3 doubles featuring
Nikolaj Talimaa and
Louis Picaud where the Hound pair saw a 7-2 tiebreak go in their favor, giving the Hounds a 1-0 lead going into singles.
After hard-fought doubles action, singles was smooth sailing for the Hounds with the Zeuch Destouet magic continuing to roll. No. 11 Zeuch got the Hounds going, picking up a first set 6-1 dub. He was in control in set two 3-0 before his opponent, No. 40 Nabil retired due to injury. Destouet had a more traditional match victory, going 6-4, 6-4 in a No. 10 vs. No. 23 affair.
With a 3-0 lead, the Bearcats struck their only point of the day, a 7-5, 6-4 victory over
Louis Picaud out of the No. 3 singles spot. But not too soon after is when
August Ehrnrooth, the sophomore out of Finland, sealed the deal. Ehrnrooth earned a 6-4 first set win before replicating that in set two giving the Hounds the championship.
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds, with the GLVC automatic qualifier for the NCAA Regional, await to see who they will face at the NCAA Regional on May 1.
