Sam Lauritsen
CONTRIBUTOR
The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s men’s tennis team continued its season this weekend by competing in two tournaments. The Mavericks sent Matt Dunn, Marko Minic, Luke Moorhead and Alex Woodward to the Blujay Invitational in Omaha. Razvan Grigorescu, Abdoul Ouattara and Nathan Reekie went to Tulsa, OK to take part in the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships on Sept. 30-Oct. 7.
Abdoul Outtara defeated Memphis’ Matt Story 7-6(5), 6-2 in the first round of pre-qualifying but then was defeated in the second round of pre-qualifying. Razvan Grigorescu started off his tournament with a dominant victory in the qualifying round 6-1, 6-4 over Purdue. This was an impressive victory for Razvan, as he showed that the stiff competition last weekend in Malibu truly did pay off. Grigorescu and Outtara then paired up for some doubles action. They faced up against a stout Virginia Tech team and fell in a tough third set super-breaker. This experience for Grigorescu will prove vital, as the Mavs wrap up their fall season in three weeks at the ITA Central Region Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., Oct 19-22.
Omaha women’s tennis team competed in its third tournament of the fall season this weekend at the Bluejay Invitational at Koch Family Tennis Center. The Mavs had a great tournament overall with a few exceptional standouts. Notably, Rylee Tucker was extremely solid in both singles and doubles with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 victory over Doane’s Briana Kempel as well as a first-place finish in Flight C doubles with partner Clare Crockett. This duo was impressive all weekend and finished off UND’s Wessman and Brackin 6-4 in the finals. UNO was also impressive in singles receiving two third-place finishes for the tournament. In Flight B, Janelle Wilson showed great resilience all tournament finishing with a victory over UND’s Elly Hartnett for third-place. Freshman Savanna Crowell showed great composure all tournament long which proved vital in her third-place finish in Flight D. Omaha closes the fall portion of its schedule Oct. 19-22 at the ITA Regional Championships in Lawrence, KS.
