Box Score ARLINGTON, TEXAS – UT Tyler men's tennis flexed their muscles in their first postseason appearance as a Division II program as they ran away with a 4-0 sweep of UT Permian Basin.
In doubles, the Patriots hit a little bit of a roadblock as they had to rely on the third doubles match to claim the opening point.
Gonzalo Fernandez Gil and
Moritz Mayer paired up in the #1 slot but were defeated by a score of 6-3.
Joaquin Bianchi and
Egor Shestakov paired up in the #2 slot and answered the call with a 6-4 victory to even the matches at one each.
That left the doubles point down to match #3 between the pair of
Jorge Sala Frigeri and
Jonas Dixon against Jorge Carlos Garcia Arrabal and Timon Kohler. The Falcons were the team jumping out early, taking a 3-1 lead through four games. However, the pair of Frigeri and Dixon came right back to work and took the lead 5-4 before both teams battled to a 6-6 tie and forced a tiebreaker.
In that tiebreaker, neither team ever held a two point lead as they played to ties all the way through until the final point. Throughout the match it was the Patriots who consistently took a one point lead, but the Falcons took a 9-8 lead to push them to the brink. The pair of Frigeri and Dixon held strong and won two consecutive points to claim victory and the first point of the match.
In the LSC tournament, once a match is claimed, the remaining matches on the court must cease. UT Tyler looked to end it quickly to buy some extra rest, and that is exactly what happened.
Mayer led the charge for the Patriots after dispatching his opponent in just an hour and four minutes. He never trailed in the match and gave up just three games as he won in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
The next man up was Bianchi, who collected his own straight sets victory in just under an hour and a half. Bianchi raced out to a 5-1 lead in set one before giving up two games in a row. He cleared the final hurdle and won the first set 6-3. In set two, the junior from Argentina ran out to another big lead as he led 5-0. He dropped the following game, but cleaned up the match with a victory just one game later to collect another point for UT Tyler.
The final match for the Patriots dropped into the hands of
Jonas Dixon in the #6 singles slot. Dixon ran out to a 4-1 lead in set one, but dropped the next two games to make it 4-3. Dixon buckled back in and won the next two games to close out the first set 6-4.
In the second set of the match, it was UT Permian Basin's Fernando Siqueira-Girondi who ran out to a quick 4-1 lead over Dixon. Dixon battled right back, winning four consecutive games to take a 5-4 lead. Siqueira-Girondi tied the match at 5-5, but it was Dixon who would prevail with a 7-5 set victory and claim the final point necessary for the win.
The Patriots will now take on Cameron in the semifinal round of the LSC postseason tournament. That match will take place on Friday at 1 p.m. at the Arlington Tennis Center in Arlington, Texas.
