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Box Score 2 TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler tennis took on West Alabama in a pair of matchups inside the Summers Tennis Center. In the matchups, the #12 Patriots men took down the #23 Tigers 4-1 while the #3 ranked women's Tigers program took down the Patriots 5-2.
The Patriots women took to the courts first, battling it out with #3 West Alabama.
The match began as always with the doubles contests, and the #3 Tigers took a pair of 6-3 wins in both the #1 and #2 lines to take a 1-0 lead into singles.
In singles, the Patriots were first on the board, unfortunately that was due to a retirement from a Tigers player in the #5 line. That gave
Luisa Moraes the win as the Patriots drew even.
From there however, the Tigers held the upper hand, taking quick wins in #4 and #1 line singles to quickly move their lead out to 3-1 with just three matches remaining.
In the deciding match,
Yelena Kim battled back and forth with her Tigers opponent, but would fall by scores of 6-3, 6-2 as #3 West Alabama took the deciding point for the match.
In #2 singles,
Kanika Sivaraman would battle with her opponent in a three set thriller. After falling 6-3 in the first set, Sivaraman ripped off a huge 6-1 win to even up her match. In the deciding set, it was the Tigers who came away with the win in a 7-6 (7-2) set to make it 5-1 in their favor.
The final Patriots point of the day came in line #6, as
Anna Melnik found her stride on her way to a 6-0, 6-4 win to make it a 5-2 final score on the day.
The women's program will now set their sights on a matchup with #19 Auburn Montgomery on Sunday morning.
Over on the men's side, the #12 ranked Patriots would face off with the #23 ranked Tigers in what is their second straight ranked matchup of the weekend.
The Patriots wasted no time in looking dominant, as
Joaquin Bianchi and Forkane Lebdi delivered a 6-1 win in just 24 minutes to put the Patriots ahead in doubles.
Following suit,
Daniil Felker and
Egor Shestakov rattled off a 6-3 win of their own in line #1 to ensure the Patriots held a 1-0 lead heading into the six singles match.
Continuing their strong effort into singles was Shestakov, who quickly put the Patriots up 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-2 straight sets win.
The Tigers however showed resilience, as they took a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 win in line #1 to pull within a point. Lebdi in the #4 singles line bounced right back for the Patriots, as he put together a dramatic comeback after dropping the first set at 6-1. He came back with a 7-6, 6-2 win in the last two sets to put the Patriots up 3-1 heading into the deciding matches.
In that deciding match, it was Felker who had a flair for the dramatic, also going into a three set thriller. In his first set, he battled his way to a 7-6 (7-2) first set win before falling 6-0 in his second set. That forced the match into a deciding third set, where Felker took a huge 6-4 win to give the Patriots their fourth point and the match win.
#12 UT Tyler will now prepare for a matchup with #19 Auburn Montgomery as they close out their homestand with their third straight ranked opponent. That match is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Summers Tennis Center.
