ARLINGTON, TEXAS – UT Tyler men's tennis gets to claim their first LSC tournament title following a 4-2 victory over #1 seed Midwestern State on Saturday afternoon at the Arlington Tennis Center.
 
It was a battle between two top 40 nationally ranked teams in Arlington as the Patriots and the Mustangs faced off for the LSC tournament crown.
 
In doubles, it was Midwestern State who jumped out to a quick victory as the pair of Alex Martinez Roca and Ben Westwick took down Gonzalo Fernandez Gil and Moritz Mayer.
 
With their backs to the wall, the Patriots needed a quick answer and got it in the form of Joaquin Bianchi and Egor Shestakov delivering a dominant 6-1 set victory to even the doubles points at 1-1.
 
In the third and final doubles match, Jonas Dixon and Jorge Sala Frigeri battled back from a 3-1 deficit to win five consecutive games and win their set 6-3 and put the first point on the board for the Patriots.
 
With their first point on the board, the Patriots turned to singles where they needed just three of the six matches to go their way to claim the tournament title.
 
Bianchi again was the first man up and delivered a big straight sets victory to put the Patriots halfway home. He never trailed in either set and gave up just one game as he won 6-1, 6-0 in just an hour and 17 minutes.
 
Just four minutes later, Mayer joined Bianchi with a straight sets victory of his own while never trailing to get the Patriots on the doorstep of their first title. Mayer won the first set 6-1 before claiming a second set victory of 6-3.
 
With the Patriots just one point away, Midwestern State started their comeback run. Stefan Andrei battled in the #6 spot and delivered a 7-6, 6-3 straight sets win to give the Mustangs their first point of the match.
 
In line #1, Fernandez Gil battled against Martinez Roca, who claimed yet another point for Midwestern State with a straight sets win by scores of 6-4, 6-3 to put the Mustangs within just one point.
 
The deciding match came down to the #3 slot between Safar Rasulov and Marcal Miret Avante. Rasulov took the quick lead 3-1 in the first set before closing out Miret Avante 6-3 to claim set number one. In set number two, Miret Avante opened up a 3-1 lead of his own before Rasulov battled back to a 4-4 tie. However, Miret Avante closed out the set with two consecutive game wins to even the match at one set each.
 
Set three would determine if the Patriots would win the title, or if it would all come down to the final match of the day. Rasulov ran out to a big 4-1 lead to hold the advantage. After a quick game win from Miret Avante, Rasulov rattled off three consecutive game wins to claim the set 6-3 and the victory for UT Tyler.
 
The win secures their first ever LSC tournament title in their first year of postseason eligibility as a Division II program. Next up for UT Tyler will be the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament where they have earned the conference's automatic bid. On May 3^rd, the Patriots will find out what seed they will be and where they will play.
 
The NCAA South Central Regional Tournament will begin on May 9 and run through May 10. It will feature the top four teams in the NCAA South Central Regional rankings.