Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler tennis split their action with Southern Arkansas on Friday as the Patriots men earned a 4-0 win and the Patriots women fell by a score of 4-3.
 
For the Patriots women, they pushed (RV) Southern Arkansas to the brink across the board but came up just short by a final score of 4-3.
 
Action started in doubles, where the Muleriders took the early advantage by taking a 6-3 win in slot #3. The Patriots battled back in slot #2, as Kanika Sivaraman and Elisa Buhagiar took their own 6-3 win to even up the doubles matches at 1-1.
 
In the deciding #1 slot, the pair of Muskan Gupta and Allison Schwartz battled their way in a hard fought match that would end up going to a tiebreaker. However, the Muleriders would prevail, pulling off a 7-6 (7-3) win to earn the doubles point.
 
In singles, the Patriots wasted no time in battling back, as Gupta herself ran away with a huge 6-0, 6-2 straight sets win that took less than an hour and evened up the score at 1-1.
 
Following her doubles partner's lead, Schwartz would also put together a straight sets win in scores of 7-5, 6-1 to give the Patriots the lead. Right behind her was Anna Melnik, who trounced her opponent in scores of 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 to put the Patriots just one point away from putting away the Muleriders.
 
In slot #3, Sivaraman battled close in a three set affair, but would ultimately fall 6-3, 2-6, 0-6 as the Muleriders pulled within a point. In slot #5, Luisa Moraes battled her way in a dramatic set one tiebreaker that ran all the way up to 10-8, but she would ultimately fall in straight sets by scores of 6-7, 4-6 to even up the team scores at 3-3.
 
That left the match down to Buhagiar in slot #4, and she fell down quickly 3-6 in the first set, but returned the favor with a dominant 6-1 win in set two. Set three would see the match run all the way out to a tiebreaker for the match, but the Muleriders would pull away in a 7-1 win and scores of 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 to claim the fourth point and the match win.
 
The Patriots women get a quick chance to rebound on Saturday, as they host (RV) Central Oklahoma at 10 a.m. at the Summers Tennis Center.
 
The Patriots men got their contest started at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon, and immediately put together some strong tennis on their way to winning the doubles point. The #1 line of Daniil Felker and Egor Shestakov put together a quick 6-2 win to put the Patriots just one match away from taking a 1-0 lead.
 
That win came just five minutes later from the #2 line, as Joaquin Bianchi and Forkane Lebdi combined for a 6-4 decision in their favor to ensure the doubles point would go the way of the Patriots.
 
That early dominance carried over quickly into singles, as Shestakov took just over an hour to complete a 6-1, 6-2 straight sets win in the #2 line to put the Patriots just two points away from the win.
 
Minutes later, Carel Wessel completed his own straight sets win in the #5 slot by scores of 7-5, 6-4 to put the Patriots on match point.
 
That match point would fall on the hands of Bianchi in the #1 line, and he answered the call with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 straight sets victory to give the Patriots their fourth point necessary for the win.
 
With the Patriots reaching four points, the rest of the matches would go unfinished on the day.
 
The Patriots will now look to continue a strong weekend as they host #23 Ouachita Baptist on Saturday afternoon. That match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Summers Tennis Center.