| Andre Moreira | Rodrigo Morgado |
SAN ANTONIO ? UTSA’s No. 1 doubles pairing of senior Andre Moreira and junior Rodrigo Morgado climbed into the national rankings last weekend with their wins against Austin Doerner/Ben Hartman (DePaul) and Piotr Banas/Piotr Olechowski (Lousiana-Lafayette), according to collegetennisonline.com.
The duo currently ranks 75th nationally with their 5-3 record this season, including wins in five of their last half dozen contests. It marks the first time since 2002 that UTSA has had a doubles pairing in the national rankings.
“It’s pretty big for us to get nationally ranked," head coach Dr. Oliver Trittenwein said. "It’s hard for us to get that opportunity because most of the bigger schools get to play nationally-ranked opponents on a regular basis, but we only get to play someone that is ranked a few times a year. I think our doubles can compete with just about anyone out there. I’m happy for our No. 1 team thatthey are getting recognition for their hard work and success this season.”
Moreira and Morgado's biggest win this spring came on March 7 when they defeated 20th-ranked Adrian Simon and Emanu Brighiu of TCU, 9-8 (8-6). They also have notched wins against two other ranked opponents this spring (#69 Austin Doerner/Ben Hartman of DePaul & #76 Benjamin Enke/Stepan Siska of SLU).
The tandem will be back on the court on Saturday when UTSA hosts No. 42 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (7-7, 2-0 SLC) at 2 p.m.