TYLER, TEXAS – The men's program made it a clean 4-0 at the Summers Tennis Center this season while the women's program finished a strong 3-1 as both programs will now qualify for the LSC tournament.
 
The Patriots men started off their day in dominant fashion by sweeping the doubles portion of the match. The tried and true pair of Gonzalo Fernandez Gil and Moritz Mayer started off the day with a big 6-4 win to set the tone.
 
Joaquin Bianchi and Egor Shestakov paired in the #2 doubles position for a dominant 6-2 victory, and the pair of Jonas Dixon and Jorge Sala Frigeri created the final duo and continued the hot streak with a 6-4 win of their own.
 
In singles, Bianchi took his place at the #1 slot just as he had all season, and ran out to a 6-0, 7-5 straight sets win to lead the Patriots to a 2-0 lead. Fernandez Gil followed in the #2 slot, and completed a 6-1, 6-3 straight sets win to put the Rattlers on the brink.
 
Mayer was the next man up, and battled closely with Pablo Munoz Baroja in the #3 singles position. Both sets were close, but it was Munoz Baroja who claimed a 7-5, 6-4 victory to put St. Mary's on the board and keep them alive.
 
That led to the #4 singles match, and Safar Rasulov looked to end the match and send the Patriots away with another win. He answered the call and delivered a 6-2, 6-3 win to claim the fourth point necessary for victory.
 
The final match win of the day came from the #5 slot, as Yudai Watanabe battled closely with Nicolas Llosa. Watanabe won the first set 6-2, but Llosa responded with a 6-3 win in the second set. In the third and final set, it was all Watanabe as he closed out the win with a 6-3 set victory.
 
On the women's side of the dual match, the Patriots faced a stern test in #23 St. Mary's. The doubles portion of the match saw the Patriots women fight valiantly, but the Rattlers were able to sweep the matches and take the first point of the day. Leony Deutschmann and Kanika Sivaraman paired up in the #1 slot, but fell by a score of 6-3.
 
In the #2 slot, Chloe Chawner and Tanvikhaa Saravanan gave the Rattlers all they could handle but dropped the set by a score of 6-4. In the #3 slot, Andrea Farris and Chloe Dix paired up for just the third time this season but dropped their first match as a pair by a score of 6-3.
 
Over in the singles portion, Deutschmann faced off against Ashley Penshorn. Penshorn grabbed the first set 6-3, and after a Deutschmann rally was able to claim the second set by a score of 7-5.
 
In the #2 slot, Saravanan tried to spark a rally, but fell by scores of 6-2, 6-3 to put #23 St. Mary's at match point. That left it all down to Sivaraman in the #3 slot. She forced the first set to a tiebreaker, but just fell by a score of 7-6. In the second set, it was all Rattlers as Sivaraman fell by a score of 6-0 to give the Rattlers the match.
 
Dnyanada Patil had the lone victory of the day in the #4 singles slot. After dropping the first set by a score of 6-3, Patil responded with a 6-3 set victory of her own before claiming the tiebreaker by a score of 10-1.
 
Next up for both programs will be the LSC postseason tournament. The tournament is set to begin on April 28 and runs through April 30. The top eight teams in the final LSC standings will make the tournament and play a single elimination bracket before crowning a champion.