ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLA. – UT Tyler men's tennis saw their season come to a close on Wednesday at the hands of Hawaii Pacific by a score of 4-2, but not before the Patriots made it a little more stressful on the Sharks.
In the doubles portion of the contest, the Sharks got on the board quickly with a 6-2 win over
Jorge Sala Frigeri and
Jonas Dixon in the #3 line. The next match to finish came in the #2 slot, where
Joaquin Bianchi and
Egor Shestakov paired up against Jordi Walder and Jan Heine. The Sharks got the better of the Patriots in that match as well, securing a 6-4 victory to take the doubles point.
In the #1 line,
Gonzalo Fernandez Gil and
Moritz Mayer were locked in a tight battle at 5-5 but were unable to finish the match due to the Sharks securing the point.
With the edge in the match held by Hawaii Pacific after doubles, the Patriots went to work to try and dig themselves right back into the contest. In the #2 line #29 Robin Sanz faced off against #60 Bianchi to keep their streak rolling. That is precisely what he did, collected a 6-0, 6-1 straight sets win to give the Sharks their second point.
The #4 line saw
Safar Rasulov battle it out with Benjamin Loccisano to try and slow down the Sharks and try to flip some momentum back in the Patriots favor. However, Hawaii Pacific kept it going, and collected a 6-3, 6-3 victory to put themselves into match point.
With their backs against the wall, Dixon looked to get the Patriots going back in the right direction. He faced off against Ryohei Arai in the #6 line, and put together a dominant 6-3, 6-2 straight sets victory to put the first point of the day for UT Tyler on the board.
That small spark of momentum suddenly turned even larger, as Mayer took the court in the #3 slot. He followed right behind Dixon's footsteps, delivering another straight set victory by scores of 7-5, 6-3 to put the second point of the day on the board.
The Patriots suddenly had everything going their way, and two matches were still left on the court. In singles line #1, #32 Fernandez Gil took on #2 Walder in a match that pitted two of the top singles players in all of Division II against each other.
Walder took the early advantage with a 6-3 set win, but Fernandez Gil came storming back in set two, winning by a score of 6-1. That left the match down to a third and deciding set, and Walder came away with a 6-3 win to seal the Sharks victory.
In the final remaining match, singles specialist
Yudai Watanabe was locked in a tight battle with Heine. Watanabe ran away with the first set at 6-2, but Heine fought back with his own 6-4 victory to even the match. When the match point was clinched for the Sharks, Watanabe held a 4-2 advantage in the third and final set.
For the Patriots, this marks the end of their postseason run that saw them make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018 and make an appearance in the Round of 16 for the first time since 2016 all of which came in the first year of Division II eligibility for UT Tyler.
