Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 LAWTON, OKLAHOMA – UT Tyler tennis had their hands full on Monday with Cameron as their men's team was ranked #13 in the ITA Rankings and their women's team was ranked #18, but the Patriots win came away with a 4-3 win and the Patriots women fell just narrowly by a score of 4-3.
On the men's side, they roared to life early on in doubles as
Gonzalo Fernandez Gil and
Egor Shestakov dispatched their opponents by a score of 6-2. Following them was the combination of
Joaquin Bianchi and
Carel Wessel winning by a score of 6-3 to secure the doubles point in the favor of the Patriots.
Holding a 1-0 lead heading to singles, the Patriots looked to keep up the momentum. Unfortunately, the Aggies would claim the first win as Bianchi was forced to retire. That pulled the Aggies even, and they capitalized on the momentum.
In the #4 slot, the Aggies rolled with a 6-1, 6-3 win to claim their second point. They would follow with another point in the #3 slot with wins of 6-3, 6-4 to take a quick 3-1 lead and put themselves into match point.
Fernandez Gil would look to calm the seas in the #2 slot, and he answered the call with a huge three set win. He would claim the first set in a tiebreaker before falling 7-5 in set two. In the third set, he would be dominant with a 6-1 set win and the Patriots first point in singles.
Jordi Garcia Portell took the spotlight in #5 singles with a 6-3 win of his own in set one, as he led 5-1 at one point in the opening set. Garcia Portell would take an early lead in set two, but the Aggies bounced back to take the set 6-4 and put the entirety of the match on the line in one final set. In that final set, the two players would alternate games up to a 3-3 tie, but Garcia Portell took three of the next four games to claim the set 6-4 and claim the tying point in a huge moment for the Patriots.
That win from Garcia Portell forced the outcome of the match to come down to #6 singles, and
Yudai Watanabe was locked in with a 6-3 win in set one. The Aggies responded with a 6-4 win of their own, and suddenly the match was all on the line. Watanabe refused to go away, never trailing in that final set on his way to a big 6-3 win and giving the Patriots a dramatic 4-3 win over #13 Cameron.
The win moves UT Tyler men's tennis to 15-1 overall on the season and a perfect 6-0 record in LSC play. They have now won 14 consecutive matches, with five of those against ranked opponents.
On the women's side, they too would seize the early momentum of the match after a dominant display in doubles. All three Patriots teams would claim victory, led by a 6-2 win by
Tanvikhaa Saravanan and
Kanika Sivaraman. Following their win was
Brooklyn Ross and
Violetta Khisamova, who claimed a 7-6 win after a tiebreaker.
Allison Schwartz and
Akshaya Suresh also claimed a win in their own tiebreaker to ensure the doubles sweep.
Cameron would look to bounce back quickly, and they got exactly what they needed with wins of 6-2, 6-1 in slot #1 and a 6-4, 6-3 win in slot #4. Those two wins would give them a narrow lead, but the Patriots continued to battle.
In slot #2, Saravanan would claim her opening set by a score of 6-4, but the Aggies had an answer with a 6-0 win of their own in set two. That led to a deciding set three, and the Aggies would come away with a 6-2 win to claim their third point.
In match #5, the Aggies would come away with a 6-2, 6-2 straight sets win to secure the victory as they reached the four points necessary.
In match #6, Sivaraman would battle back from a 6-2 defeat in set one with her own 7-5 set win to force a third set tiebreaker. In that tiebreaker, she ran out to a dominant 6-0 lead, but the Aggies battled back to tie it up at 7-7. Sivaraman would answer the call, and claimed the next three points to win her match.
In #3 singles, Khisamova was locked into a marathon match after taking the first set 6-4. The Aggies would bounce back in set two with a 7-6 win that saw the tiebreaker stretch all the way out to 14-12 to force a deciding third set tiebreaker. In that tiebreaker, the Aggies would take the early lead at 4-0, but Khisamova rattled off 10 consecutive points to claim the tiebreaker and the win.
The Patriots move to 10-7 overall on the season and 4-2 in LSC play on the season.
Both teams will get a short week to rest and recover before hosting a pair of matches at Summers Tennis Center this weekend. Those matches begin with yet another ranked opponent in Midwestern State on Friday morning, and close with a 10 a.m. matchup against Lubbock Christian on Saturday.
