TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler men's and women's tennis capped off their regular season in style with a fantastic performance against St. Mary's as they took a 6-1 win and a 7-0 win.
 
With their win today and the Angelo State loss, the women's program has officially clinched their first ever Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship.

This is the first conference title as a Division II program and first of any kind for the program since winning the 2018 ASC East Division and ASC Tournament titles.
 
WOMEN'S MATCH: #26 UT Tyler 6 | St. Mary's 1
 
The Patriots put the stamp on their regular season with a dominant win over the Rattlers on Friday.
 
That run began in doubles, with the Patriots sweeping all three matches and taking a 1-0 lead into the singles slate. Maria Antonio Ortega and Paula Castellanos finished first at 6-2, and they would be followed by Carla Rodier and Hailey Zhang, who took a 6-3 win.
 
The final win and sweep was capped off by the #8 ranked pair of Yona Bancarel and Natalia Gorzny, who took a 6-4 win in line #1.
 
In singles, the Patriots would add four straight sets victories in lines #3 through #6, distancing themselves from the Rattlers. Rodier was first in that list, taking a 6-1, 6-2 win. Right behind her was Claudia Di Leonardo, who took a 6-1, 6-4 win to put the Patriots on the doorstep.
 
That game sealing win came from Antonio Ortega, who delivered her own straight sets win at 6-3, 6-2 to put the Patriots up 4-0 and book the win. Castellanos would add another in the fifth line at 6-1, 6-3, making it 5-0.
 
The Rattlers got on the board with a three set marathon in line #2, but the Patriots had the final say, taking their own marathon win in line #1. Bancarel took a 6-4 first set, but the Rattlers battled back to force a tiebreaker at 6-6 in set two. That tiebreaker would be all Bancarel, as she won 7-3 to put the sixth and final point of the day on the board.
 
MEN'S MATCH: #6 UT Tyler 7 | St. Mary's 0
 
The Patriots men got off to a similar start as the women's team, sweeping the doubles matches to take early momentum.
 
Carel Wessel and Daniil Felker paired up for a 6-1 win in line #1, and teammates Malo Poulesquen and Job Japelj followed with a 6-2 win in line #2 to seal the first two matches. Trevor Short and Samuel Antwi would cap off the sweep in line #3, taking their own 6-2 win.
 
With a 1-0 lead in hand, the Patriots doubled that lead after just over 60 minutes of singles play. Wessel in line #2 dropped just one game in two sets, taking a 6-0, 6-1 straight sets win to put the Patriots up two.
 
Daniil Felker would earn a win in the #5 line to move the Patriots to 3-0, unfortunately due to his opponent being forced to retire. That meant the winning point would fall into the hands of Artiom Dorofeev in the #1 line, and he delivered with a resounding 6-2, 6-4 straight sets win for the fourth point.
 
In line #3, Poulesquen dropped his first set at 4-6, but responded with a 6-1 runaway to even the match. That forced a tiebreaker, and he carried that huge momentum forward with a 10-3 win and the fifth point on the board.
 
The Patriots would add another point in line #6, this time as Martin Despodov earned the third straight sets win of the day with a 6-4, 6-1 win. Samuel Antwi in line #4 would be the final match out on the court, and he carried on the Patriots winning ways with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 straight sets win to put away a 7-0 sweep.
 
Both teams will now look ahead to the Lone Star Conference Tournament to be held April 30-May 2 at the Arlington Tennis Center in Arlington, Texas.