TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler tennis continues to stay hot in LSC play, with the #31 women picking up their sixth straight win in conference play, while the #7 men earned their fifth straight after both teams took down Midwestern State at the Summers Tennis Center.
 
WOMEN'S MATCH: #31 UT Tyler 4 | #28 Midwestern State 3
 
The Patriots got out on the front foot early, again with key doubles play. Yona Bancarel and Natalia Gorzny continued their run of form in line #1, taking a dominant 6-1 win. The Mustangs would battle back by taking line #2, but Carla Rodier and Hailey Zhang shut the door with a thrilling 7-5 win in line #3 to put the Patriots ahead 1-0.
 
The Mustangs would quickly answer the Patriots doubles win with a win in singles in the #2 line, evening the match. Paula Castellanos in line #5 put the Patriots back in front with a 6-1, 6-2 straight sets win.
 
Midwestern State answered the call yet again, taking both line #3 and line #4 in straight sets, putting themselves back in front, this time at 3-2 with a chance to win the match.
 
Claudia Di Leonardo put together a gritty win in her first set in line #6, battling back from a 4-5 deficit to force a tiebreaker and then take an 7-6 (8-6) win. In set two, she would fall behind 0-1, but won six straight games to even the overall match at 3-3 and keep the Patriots alive.
 
The match came down to the #1 line, where Yona Bancarel was in the midst of a marathon. She fell 4-6 in the opening set, but rallid to deliver a 6-3 win in set two after jumping out to a quick 3-1 lead. That set up the third set to be the decider for the match, and she kept up the momentum with another brilliant 6-3 win to earn the match 4-3 for UT Tyler.
 
MEN'S MATCH: #7 UT Tyler 4 | #19 Midwestern State 3
 
In the men's match, it was Midwestern State who took the early advantage by winning doubles. Samuel Antwi and Trevor Short won the the #3 line to answer the #2 line won by the Mustangs, but they would take a 6-3 win in the #1 line to hold a 1-0 lead.
 
In singles, all six matches would go three sets as the neither side wanted to give an inch in the match. The Mustangs had the first win, doubling their lead and putting the Patriots in a 2-0 hole.
 
Antwi would get the first point of the day for the Patriots in line #4, taking a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win to cut down the lead. Right behind him was Carel Wessel, who delivered a confident comeback win after dropping his first set in scores of 3-6, 6-0, 7-5.
 
Malo Poulesquen in line #3 finished right behind Wessel, and also followed him with a first set defeat. He would respond just the same to the 2-6 setback, ripping off wins of 6-3, 6-2 to put the Patriots in front at 3-2 and on the edge of taking the win.
 
Just like the women's match, the men's match would come down to the wire, this time with the Mustangs forcing the seventh point as they took a comeback win of their own in line #6. That set up Daniil Felker in line #5 to be the decider.
 
After a 6-1 first set, the Mustangs responded with a dramatic 6-7 (5-7) win to force a third set. In that third and final set of the day, Felker was nails, taking a 2-0 lead before running away with a 6-2 win to put the exclamation point on a big 4-3 win.
 
The Patriots women will be back in action next week as they hit the road to battle with Texas A&M-Kingsville and #24 Angelo State. They will face the Javelinas on April 16^th at 1 p.m. and then the Rambelles on April 18^th at 11 a.m.
 
The men's team will not play again until taking on UT Dallas on April 21^st.