| Junior Jorge Delgado clinched Friday's 4-3 win at UT Arlington with his 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 No. 6 singles triumph. |
ARLINGTON ? The UTSA men’s tennis team fought off a determined UT Arlington squad and came out with a 4-3 victory on Friday afternoon. The win extended the Roadrunners' Southland Conference record to 2-0 and 4-7 overall.
“I was really happy with my team today,” head coach Dr. Oliver Trittenwein said. “I could see that they were focused all day. They were focused when we stretched, when we warmed up and especially once we got into play.”
UTSA came out aggressively, sweeping doubles play and catching the Mavericks off guard.
Sophomore Max Stratmann and freshman Pedro Zanotelli continued their success at the No. 2 position, improving to 3-1 with an 8-4 win over Gonzalo Bienzobas and Jason Lateko. Junior Jorge Delgado and sophomore Daniel Morieras needed a tiebreaker to decide the winner of their No. 3 matchup with Brieuc Hamon and Adam Srkala. The Roadrunners duo came out on top, 9-8 (8-6), to clinch the point for UTSA.
“UTA has always been a tough matchup for us,” Trittenwein said. “I was impressed with their focus today. They came out ready to compete and I think we surprised UTA a little. I think our doubles pairings are really playing well for us right now.”
In singles action, Moriera gave UTSA a 2-0 lead when he dispatched Minkin at the No. 2 spot, 6-3. 7-6 (7-3). The Mavericks finally got on the board when Celedinas beat Morgado, 6-4, 6-3 at No.1. Zanotelli extended the lead back to two when he captured his No. 3 contest, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, over Hamon. Refusing to go down without a fight, UTA closed the gap again at No. 5 when David Subirats defeated Stratmann, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6). With the team score sitting at 3-2 in favor of UTSA, it was Delgado who sealed the deal, knocking out Bienzobas 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 at the No. 6 spot.
“UTA is one of those teams that just never gives up,” said Trittenwein. “We definitely had momentum going into singles after we swept all the doubles matches. We were ahead in the first set of nearly all of the singles matches and it looked like we had them on their heels, but they just kept fighting back.
“It was a big win for us today. It was a tough match, as it always is with UTA, and our guys held them off. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve come up here and won the doubles point only to have them come back and take us in singles. Today we were able to fight them off and stick it out for the win. I can’t say enough about my team’s performance today.”
UTSA will be in Fort Worth on Saturday to take on 26th-ranked TCU. The Horned Frogs are coming off a big win on Friday against No. 24 Texas A&M. It will be the third time this season the Roadrunners have faced a nationally-ranked opponent.