Box Score TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler men's tennis can claim the Lone Star Conference Regular Season title yet again as they took down #28 Midwestern State on Tuesday.
The Patriots men claim their second LSC regular season title in three seasons, and add to their LSC Tournament title from the 2022 season.
The #28 ranked Mustangs took early control of the match, as they came away with strong wins in both #2 and #3 doubles by equal scores of 6-2. In #1 doubles, the combination of
Gonzalo Fernandez Gil and
Egor Shestakov held their own, taking a 7-6 win in a tiebreaker to avoid the doubles sweep.
It was that doubles win that seemed to spark some momentum for the Patriots, and
Joaquin Bianchi rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 straight sets win to put the Patriots on the board and even the match at 1-1.
Following just behind Bianchi was Fernandez Gil, who connected on his own straight sets win with scores of 6-2, 6-3. Even further, Shestakov joined the straight sets party with scores of 7-5, 6-3 to open up a huge 3-1 lead and put the Patriots on match point with the conference title on the line.
In #4 singles,
Carel Wessel was in position to potentially be the fourth win necessary after a 6-3 first set win. However, the Mustangs would battle back with a 6-3 win of their own to force a third set. In that third set, the level of tennis would ramp up to a new level, as neither side gave an edge. Unfortunately, Wessel would be forced to retire and give the Mustangs their second point of the match.
In #5 singles,
Jordi Garcia Portell would look to be the Patriot that clinched the point, but the match would be all Mustangs as they held the momentum on their way to a 6-3, 6-4 win.
That set up the match to fall into the hands of #6 singles, and that meant
Yudai Watanabe would get yet another chance to take care of business.
Watanabe has played the hero role on multiple occasions this season, most recently clinching the winning point against #13 Cameron back on April 3.
The Mustangs would continue their strong form as they never trailed in the opening set on their way to a comfortable 6-3 win. In set number two, Watanabe went down by a score of 3-1 before knotting the score at 4-4 and again at 5-5. He would go on to take the next two consecutive games to claim the set and force the match into a third and final set.
In that final set, the Mustangs again took the early lead at 2-1, but Watanabe again battled back before taking the slim 4-3 lead. The Mustangs tied it up at 4-4, but Watanabe won four of the five points in the next game to take the 5-4 lead. In the clinching game, Watanabe would break his opponents serve and outlast his efforts to take the match and clinch the LSC Regular Season title.
The Patriots finish their regular season at 17-1 and on a 16 match winning streak. They finished a perfect 8-0 in Lone Star Conference play and took down seven different ranked opponents throughout the season.
UT Tyler men's tennis will next take the court at the Lone Star Conference Tournament on April 20-22 in Arlington, Texas at the Arlington Tennis Center.
