SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA men’s tennis team kicks off its 2010 spring season with a pair of non-conference home matches this weekend. The Roadrunners will square off against Prairie View A&M at 2 p.m. on Saturday followed by a 10 a.m. contest against Laredo Community College the following morning.
“I’m really excited about the upcoming season,” 11th-year head coach Dr. Oliver Trittenwein said. “I think every coach has the goal of winning conference to start off every season. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to accomplish that goal this season.”
Led by senior Rodrigo Morgado, UTSA returns six players from last season’s squad that finished 8-13 overall and 3-2 in Southland Conference play, which was good for third place in the league standings.
Morgado posted a 9-11 record at No. 1 singles, including a 3-2 mark in conference play. He paired with then-senior Andre Moreira to post a 7-5 record at No. 1 doubles. The duo broke into the national rankings in April at No. 75 in the country.
“Rodrigo has the maturity and the most experience on our team to beat the tough players for us,” Trittenwein said. “He’s coming back from a few injuries from last season, so we’ll probably start him a little lower in the lineup, but if there’s anyone on this team that can work their way back up to the top quickly, it’s him.”
Joining Morgado from last season’s team are senior Jorge Delgado, juniors Daniel Moreiras and Max Stratmann, and sophomores Shariq Khan and Pedro Zanotelli.
“I’m excited about where everyone is to start this season.” Trittenwein said. “We had a bunch of nagging injuries last season that the guys took care of during the offseason. What was hampering them before is no longer hampering them now and all of these guys are coming back with one more year of experience and maturity under their belt.”
UTSA also has added three freshmen to their lineup this season.
Tyler Brown joins the squad after helping lead New Braunfels High School to back-to-back UIL 5A state championships. Martin Ayala was the top ranked Ecuadoran junior player in 2008. Meanwhile, Hugo Guanais was ranked in the top 15 in Brazil.
Ayala and Brown already have worked their way to the top of UTSA’s lineup.
“These two guys are young, very energetic and have huge games,” Trittenwein said. “Tyler is a ferocious competitor and I have never seen him give up on a match. We didn’t recruit him to play at the No. 1 position, but he has definitely earned that spot. Martin’s game is very big. He has a lot of different weapons. He has the game to be another No. 1 player for us.”
In contrast to last year, the Roadrunners open up the 2010 season with a less difficult slate of opponents. Of their first nine matches last season, six of them were against nationally-ranked opponents.
“Fortunately, we have some teams at our level to start off this season that we can compete with, versus starting off with the nationally-ranked teams right off the bat,” Trittenwein said. “I think we felt a little overwhelmed last year. These first couple of weeks we have some teams that are at our level. Competitively, we should be in every match, and I think that will help our confidence going into our conference season.”
