SURPRISE, Ariz. – Mohanad Alhouni (Jr., Tripoli, Libya) of the Gustavus men’s tennis team was defeated by Lubomir Cuba of Middlebury College in the second round of four participants at the ITA Oracle Cup singles draws Friday morning.
Cuba outlasted Alhouni in two sets at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Club by scores of 6-4, 6-1.
“There were definitely some patches of the match where Mohanad executed his game plan very well and he was able to have a look at the first set,” said Head Coach Tommy Valentini. “Against such quality competition, the line is so thin between winning and losing. Cuba deserves a great deal of credit for being aggressive in the right spots and playing well with the lead in the second set.”
After the second round loss, No. 3 seed Alhouni moves on to compete for the third place crown. Alhouni will face Michael Rozenvasser of Carnegie Mellon University at 10:30 a.m. (8:30 PST) tomorrow.
Cuba of Middlebury took down the No. 2 seed, David Liu of The University of Chicago before moving past Alhouni to advance to the finals. Cuba will face Aman Manji of Emory University for the singles championship. Manji, the No. 4 seed, defeated Michael Rozenvasser 6-2, 6-4.
“I’m hopeful Mohanad can rebound and come out with a strong effort tomorrow against a very explosive player in Rosenvasser. Every match at this level is a tremendous opportunity to grow and compete well and tomorrow will be no different,” Valentini said.