INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – #7 ranked and #6 seed UT Tyler men's tennis put together a dominant display in singles on their way to taking down #5 ranked and #4 seed Lubbock Christian to take fifth place at the ITA Indoor National Championships.
 
The Patriots would split the opening two matches of doubles, with the Chaps taking the #2 line before Job Japelj and Trevor Short delivered a 6-4 win in line #3.
 
That split brought the doubles point to the #1 line, where the Chaps took a 7-5 win to deliver a 1-0 lead heading into singles action.
 
In singles, they quickly doubled their lead, taking a straight sets win in the #1 line to move ahead 2-0 and put the Patriots on the back foot.
 
That win would be the last for the Chaps on the day, as the Patriots onslaught began with a 6-1, 6-4 win by Artiom Dorofeev that took just an hour and 18 minutes in line #2 to make it 2-1.
 
Jordi Garcia Portell followed up in the #5 line with a win of 7-6, 6-1, drawing them even. Right behind him was Martin Despodov who took a 6-3, 6-1 straight sets win to push the Patriots out in front for good.
 
Carel Wessel in the #3 line continued the run of straight sets wins, taking a 6-3 first set followed by a 7-6 set two as the Patriots officially took the win.
 
That left just one match on the courts as Samuel Antwi battled it out in the #4 line. His perfect singles week at the ITA Indoor's looked in jeopardy after dropping the first set 1-6, but the junior from Ghana buckled down to deliver set wins of 7-6, 7-6 to complete the comeback win and a 3-0 week for himself.
 
With the win, the Patriots wrap up 5^th place at their first trip to the ITA Indoor National Championships in the Division II era.
 
The Patriots now head home for their first official home contests of 2026 as they host #24 Harding and Southern Arkansas at Summers Tennis Center. Those matches will take place on February 20^th and 21^st at 11:30 a.m.