Senior Jorge Delgado collected a singles win on Sunday.
SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA men’s tennis team dropped its first match of the season on Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the St. Edward's Hilltoppers.
UTSA head coach Dr. Oliver Trittenwein said after losing the doubles point in Saturday’s match against Texas Pan American that he was overall pleased with his doubles pairings, but he still felt the Roadrunners had some work to do to tighten things up. Despite a few changes in the lineup, the Roadrunners continued their struggles in doubles competition against St. Edward's.
Junior Max Stratmann and freshman Tyler Brown traded service games with Brett Powers and Ned Boone and led 3-2 at the No. 3 spot. Powers and Boone then went on to break UTSA’s serve twice to take a commanding 7-3 advantage before eventually taking the match, 8-5.
At No. 1, sophomore Pedro Zanotelli and freshman Martin Ayala paired up for the first time this season, posting an 8-4 victory over Ryan Wiggins and Justin Raiti and leaving the doubles point up for grabs with one match still in play.
Senior Rodrigo Morgado and junior Daniel Moreiras, also playing together for the first time this season, lost their No. 2 bout with Mick Walter and Boris Barrios, 9-7, giving the doubles point and a 1-0 lead to the Hilltoppers.
“The execution was missing today,” Trittenwein said. “We have the right guys in the right spots, and they have the heart and the attitude to get the job done, but it just came down to execution and we didn’t have that today.
“Every year St. Edward's is tough in doubles. They have some guys with big serves and guys who really know how to volley and play at the net. It was a tough matchup at doubles today.”
Early on in singles play, the Birds found themselves facing a 2-0 deficit after Zanotelli retired from his No. 5 contest after dropping the first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-3), and going down 1-0 in the second set. Senior Jorge Delgado got UTSA on the board with convincing win for the second straight day, defeating Bernard Lancaster 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4.
Freshman Hugo Guanais saw his first action of the season at No. 6, falling at the hands of Wiggins, 6-2, 6-4, giving St. Edward's a commanding 3-1 lead in the match. Morgado, after dropping his first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (9-7), cruised to a three-set victory over Raiti, taking the final two sets, 6-1, 6-0.
Freshmen Martin Ayala and Tyler Brown both dropped the first set of their respective matches at Nos. 1 and 2, but both battled back to win the second and force a decisive third set. Brown gutted out a tough three-set victory over Powers at No. 2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to knot the score at 3 apiece.
“I was just trying to be as loud as I could, as loud as humanly possible,” Brown said. “I was trying to get everyone excited. [Ayala] was in a tough match next to me and I just wanted to get him fired up.”
On the next court over, playing at No. 1, Ayala and Boone were tied at 4 games apiece in the third frame. Boone held serve to take the 5-4 advantage, and then broke Ayala’s serve to win the third set, 6-4, and the match, 4-3, for St. Edward's.
“I think these close matches are fun,” Brown said. “I wish we would have come out on top, but it’s a good experience to go through early in the season. Even though we lost, I think it shows that we are not going to fold under pressure. [Ayala] lost his third set, 6-4. That’s a pretty close score, and he never gave up. He didn’t fold and fought for our team. That’s going to be good experience later in the season.”
UTSA will be on the road for the next two weeks, traveling to Florida for matches against South Florida and Florida Atlantic on Feb. 12 and 13, respectively, followed by a trip to Austin to take on No. 9 Texas on Feb. 20.