| Junior Jorge Delgado picked up wins in both singles and doubles play on Sunday. |
SAN ANTONIO ? The UTSA men's tennis team kicked off the Southland Conference season with a 6-1 win over Nicholls on Sunday morning at the UTSA Tennis Center.
The Roadrunners, now 3-7 overall, jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by taking the doubles point. The duo of junior Jorge Delgado and sophomore Daniel Moreiras made quick work of Rohan Shetty and Sami Mouline, winning their No. 3 match, 8-2. At No. 1, senior Andre Moreira and junior Rodrigo Morgado paired up for just the second time this season and struggled against Radu Ionescu and Abhaya Prakish, falling 8-4.
"Andre and I played together last season," Morgado said. "We still need a little time to get used to each other again, but we will be fine. Andre and I are both similar players and we like to do the same things, so it's just a matter of communication and playing together a little more."
The doubles point depended on the outcome of the No. 2 matchup where the tandem of sophomore Max Stratmann and freshman Pedro Zanotelli squared off against Phenyo Matong and Eric Fisher. UTSA came out on top, 8-5, sealing the doubles point for the Runners.
" I was really happy with our No. 2 doubles again today, and No. 3 showed real improvement since playing against Texas,” head coach Dr. Oliver Trittenwein said. "I thought our No. 1 played great against Texas, but I felt they could have played better today. That's the difference when you play a team like Texas, you just go out with nothing to lose. You go for the bigger shots and take more risks. I think they held back a little today, but it will take a little time.”
Delgado picked up the first point in singles with an easy win over Shetty, 6-1, 6-1. Morgado and Stratmann finished their matches within seconds of each other, picking up two more points for the Runners to seal the victory over the Colonels. Morgado beat Ionescu at No. 1, 6-4, 6-0. A few seconds later, Stratmann won his No. 5 match, 6-4, 6-2.
Zanotelli dropped his No. 3 contest to Prakish, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. At No. 4, Moreiras dropped the first set, but rallied back to take the second and third for the win, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Wrapping up play for the day, Moreira split his first two sets with Fisher, 7-5, 4-6. With the team competition already decided, the teams agreed on a 10-point tiebreak to decide the match. The tiebreak went back and forth, each player with a match point, but it was Moreira who gutted out the 13-11 victory to take the match.
"It is very important to win that first conference match," Morgado said. "Especially since we have been losing some matches recently. This was a good win for us to get some confidence going into some really difficult conference matches."
The Roadrunners will be off for nearly two weeks before they travel to Arlington for a league dual with UT Arlington on Friday, March 6.
"UT Arlington is always around the top in our conference," Morgado said. "That's going to be a tough match for us. Hopefully, today will give us a little more confidence before we go up there."