By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Eduardo Mena makes history yet again.
Already the only Golden Eagle in program history to claim a victory in the NCAA DI Singles Championships, the two-time OVC Player of the Year does it again with a first-round win over Louisville's Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff in this year's singles' field of 64 from the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
Mena, the nation's 66th-ranked player, took down Morin-Kougoucheff in straight-sets behind a 6-4, 6-3 victory against the county's 69th-ranked player. Mena will now head to Thursday's second round where he will great North Carolina's William Blumberg, the No. 2 seed in the field of 64, and nation's third-ranked player. Blumberg secured a 6-4, 6-4 opening-round victory over San Diego's August Holmgren.
Mena's win over Louisville's No. 1 marked the third-consecutive year that the Bultrago del Lozoya, Spain native knocked off Morin-Kougoucheff after winning in three sets last season and in straight-sets as a sophomore back in 2016.
The victory is also Mena's second in the NCAA DI Singles Championships after a straight-set nod over Baylor's Maxime Tchoutakian in last year's first round in Athens, Ga.
Mena and Blumberg will lock up in the second round Thursday from the Wake Forest Tennis Complex. The two will square off at 8 a.m. CT.
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
