LUBBOCK, TEXAS – UT Tyler tennis each faced a ranked opponent on Thursday in Lubbock Christian, and they would come out with split results as the men claimed a 4-3 win and the women fell 7-0.
 
For the Patriots men, they would square off with the #37 ranked Chaps in a critical LSC battle as both sides remain in a battle for seeding at the LSC tournament.
 
In doubles, the Patriots took the early advantage, as the pair of Egor Shestakov and Daniil Felker completed a key win to get things going. Joaquin Bianchi and Carel Wessel would soon follow, as they took a 6-4 win to ensure the Patriots would take the doubles point.
 
With a 1-0 lead heading into singles, the Patriots wasted no time in tacking on even more wins. Shestakov in line #2 looked elite, claiming a 6-1, 6-2 win. Bianchi followed in line #1, taking a 6-3, 6-4 win to set the Patriots up with a 3-0 lead.
 
The match would come down to the #3 line, where Felker battled his way to first set win by a score of 7-6 (7-4). In the second set, he left no doubts, rolling to a 6-1 win and ensuring the Patriots would take the win.
 
The Chaps would take the remaining three matches on the men's side, but the Patriots took a 4-3 win on the day.
 
On the women's side of the match, the Patriots women would square off with the #20 ranked Lady Chaps.
 
In doubles, the Lady Chaps held the advantage, taking all three matches by scores of 6-3, 6-2, and 6-3 to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
 
In those singles matches, they kept up the momentum, taking a straight sets win in both the #4 and #2 lines to take a 3-0 lead. That left the match in the hands of the #3 line and Kanika Sivaraman, but she would come up just short in scores of 6-3 and 6-1 as the Lady Chaps scored their clinching fourth point.
 
Muskan Gupta took a 6-4 first set win in her match, but fell 4-6 in the second. That forced a tiebreaking third set, but the Lady Chaps tacked on another point with a 10-2 win in that tiebreaker.
 
The Lady Chaps took another win in line #5 in straight sets, before Elisa Buhagiar battled it out in line #6 to potentially put the Patriots on the board. She fell 6-1 in the first set, but battled tough in the second before falling 6-4 as the Lady Chaps took a 7-0 win on the day.
 
Next up for the Patriots will be a road trip to Wichita Falls, where they will take on Midwestern State. Both matches are scheduled for a 10 a.m. start on Saturday morning.