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Box Score 2 CLINTON, MISSISSIPPI – UT Tyler drops a pair of matches on Friday as Mississippi College pulled off a pair of 5-2 wins over both the men's and women's teams to seal the sweep in their favor.
The Patriots women would kick off the action for the day, with their match starting at 10 a.m.
In doubles, it was the pair of
Muskan Gupta and
Allison Schwartz continuing their strong form from the fall season, as they picked up a 6-3 win in 30 minutes in the #1 slot.
That win put the Patriots just one doubles win away from claiming the opening point, but both other Patriots pairs of
Yelena Kim /
Kanika Sivaraman, and
Elisa Buhagiar /
Luisa Moraes would fall by scores of 6-2 and 6-3 to give Mississippi College the opening point of the match.
Over in singles, the Choctaws would strike first in the #3 slot, taking a 6-1, 6-1 straight sets win to move in front 2-0.
Gupta continued her strong form, pulling off a 6-3, 6-0 straight sets win in slot #1 to cut the deficit in half, but over the next few minutes the Choctaws got wins in slot #5 and slot #2 to secure the match in their favor.
One final match would go the Choctaws favor in slot #4, but the Patriots put their second point on the board in slot #6 as
Elisa Buhagiar won her Patriots singles debut in set scores of 6-2, 4-6, (15-13).
The Patriots women will now take on Ouachita Baptist on February 17 in their next match, in what will also double as their home debut in 2024.
The #9 ranked Patriots men would battle it out beginning at 2 p.m. with doubles action, and the Choctaws would quickly steal the #3 doubles slot over
Carel Wessel and
Jordi Garcia Portell by a score of 6-2.
The Patriots battled back, as
Joaquin Bianchi and Forkane Lebdi had their own quick answer with a 6-3 win to pull the doubles even at 1-1.
That left the doubles point in the hands of the #1 slotted
Egor Shestakov and
Daniil Felker, and they came away with a clutch 6-4 win to give the Patriots a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
Shestakov continued his momentum as he took care of business in the #2 slot with a 6-2, 7-5 straight sets win to make it 2-0 Patriots. The Choctaws got themselves on the board just minutes later as they claimed the #5 slot in scores of 6-3, 6-4.
That win seemed to flip momentum in the favor of Mississippi College as they then claimed the #6 slot in scores of 6-3, 6-3 to even the match at 2-2.
The next match to close was #1 singles, where Bianchi battled back after suffering a 6-2 first set loss to even his match with a 6-2 win of his own. In the third and final set, the Choctaws claimed a 6-3 win to put themselves on match point.
In #4 singles, the Choctaws would claim that match point, picking up a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win to ensure their match victory. They would claim the final point of the match in #3 singles, picking up a 7-6, 7-6 straight sets win to give themselves a 5-2 win.
#9 UT Tyler will now return back to the Summers Tennis Center for the first time in 2024 as they host Southern Arkansas on February 23 at 2 p.m.
