ORLANDO, FLORIDA – What a season for UT Tyler men's tennis. For the second consecutive season, they reached the NCAA final site and the NCAA Round of 16 in just their second year of Division II eligibility. The program set plenty of new records along the way as they earned their highest ITA Ranking of the NCAA era, and won their most matches of the Division II era.
Play began late on Thursday night as weather in the area forced matches to be delayed throughout the day. Matches would eventually get going right around 11 p.m. local time as
Gonzalo Fernandez Gil and
Egor Shestakov put their stamp on the match early in a 6-4 doubles win.
The Sharks would battle back, taking their own 6-4 win in doubles #3 as they edged out
Jonas Dixon and
Jordi Garcia Portell. That left the doubles point in the hands of doubles match #2, and it was
Joaquin Bianchi and
Carel Wessel who came away with the big win in a tiebreaker by a score of 7-6 to give the Patriots the ever important 7-6 advantage.
With the 1-0 lead, the Patriots looked to take control in singles as they looked to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in the Division II era. However, the Sharks had other thoughts, taking a 6-3, 6-1 straight sets win in #5 singles to tie up the scoreboard at 1-1.
The Patriots showed their grit as they had all season long, as Shestakov answered the early rally with a straight sets win of his own by scores of 7-6, 6-4 to push the Patriots right back into the lead at 2-1.
In #4 singles, Wessel would fall one set down before answering with a clutch 6-4 win of his own to force a deciding third set. In that third set, the Sharks would have the upper hand, taking the set 6-2 to move the match to 2-2.
#1 singles saw Bianchi fall 6-2 early, but just as Wessel did, he would battle back with a 6-4 win to even the match and force yet another third set. In that third set however the Sharks would again take the advantage, winning by a score of 6-1 to set up a potential match point.
The match would come down to #2 singles, as Fernandez Gil was locked in a tight battle. After rolling to a 6-0 victory in set one, Fernandez Gil fell 6-2 in set two to even the match at one set each. In the deciding third set, the two players would battle back and forth throughout the set, with neither side giving an edge. The match would ultimately come down to a tiebreaker, and the Sharks would take the narrow victory by a score of 7-6 to claim the fourth and final point necessary for the win.
For the Patriots, they will have plenty to hang their hat on with another tremendous season as they scored their most match wins (20) since 2018, and made a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Round of 16.
