ARLINGTON, TEXAS – UT Tyler men's tennis continues their run in the LSC tournament with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Cameron in the semifinal round Friday afternoon.
 
The doubles matches featured a comeback from the Patriots after Cameron jumped out to win the #1 singles match in quick fashion by a score of 6-2 in just 31 minutes. However, it was the duo of Jorge Sala Frigeri and Jonas Dixon in doubles slot #3 who calmed the early storm with a 6-3 victory to tie things up.
 
That left the doubles point down to match #2, and Joaquin Bianchi and Egor Shestakov looked to claim it for UT Tyler. The pair jumped out to a 4-2 lead but Cameron bounced right back and tied the match at 4-4. The two teams traded games before a 6-6 tie forced a tiebreaker. In the race to seven, Cameron took a 4-1 lead before the Patriots stormed back to claim the tiebreaker with a 7-5 win.
 
With the first point of the match secure, UT Tyler set their sights on securing the match in quick fashion. The first match completed was at the #6 line, where Shestakov took on Joao Duleba. Duleba took a 4-0 lead and then a 5-2 lead before closing out the first set at 6-4 to claim the quick set. In the second set, it was all Duleba again, winning the set 6-2 to even the match at 1-1.
 
In the #3 line, Safar Rasulov faced off against Kristian Kubik as he looked to put the Patriots back in front. In the first set, Rasulov took a quick 3-0 lead but Kubik tied it right back up at 3-3. Continuing the trend, Rasulov settled in and won three more consecutive games to claim the first set. In the second set, the pair battled to another 3-3 tie and traded games before Rasulov finally settled in to claim another point for the Patriots with a 6-4 set win.
 
Yudai Watanabe came up in the #5 slot with UT Tyler up 2-1 and needing just two more victories to claim a spot in the finals. Watanabe took a dominant lead in the first set with a 4-0 run to start the set and claim victory at 6-1.
 
In set number two, it was Sean Batkis of Cameron who raced out to a 5-3 lead to push Watanabe to the brink of a third set. However, the sophomore from Yokohoma, Japan dug deep and produced four straight game wins to win his match in straight sets and push the Aggies to the brink.
 
After Gonzalo Fernandez Gil fell to Tomas Almeida in straight sets, the Aggies were within just one as the score was now 3-2. The next man up became Moritz Mayer as he looked to push the Patriots across the line in the #3 slot.
 
Carlos Vidal led off the match with a big 6-2 set victory in which he never trailed. With his back against the wall, Mayer responded with his own 6-2 set in which he never trailed.
 
Both players now had a set victory each and looked to close out the match. Mayer took early control in the set, leading 3-1 after four. Vidal battled back, tying the set at three games each. Mayer proved to be the man of the hour, collecting three straight game wins and winning the third set 6-3.
 
That match from Mayer clinched the final point necessary for UT Tyler and allows them to claim a 4-2 win and move on to the championship round. In that championship round, the Patriots will face off against regular season champion and #1 seed Midwestern State.
 
Tomorrow's final will take place at 1 p.m. in Arlington, Texas at the Arlington Tennis Center. The winner of that match will be the LSC Tournament Champion and receive the automatic berth into the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament to be held May 9-10 at the top seeded host site.