ARLINGTON — Diogo Casa provided key victories in singles and doubles to help lead the UTSA men's tennis team to its third straight win with a 5-2 neutral-site decision against New Mexico State on Saturday at the UTA Tennis Center.
Casa, a sophomore from Pelotas, Brazil, teamed up with Fabian Brand to defeat Germain Degardin and Strahinja Trecakov, 8-6, at No. 3 doubles to clinch the point after the teams split the first two matches that finished.
In singles, Casa posted a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win against Liam Goldberg at No. 4 to hand the Roadrunners (6-9) their fourth point of the day and clinch the match.
UTSA's No. 27-ranked doubles tandem of Joel Rubio and Tomas Stillman ran their record to 12-1 on the year with an 8-7 (7-2) victory at the top spot, which countered an 8-5 win by Paul Denele and Naveen Manivannan over Yannick Junger and Boburjon Kamiljanov at No. 2.
Rubio and Stillman also were victorious in singles. Rubio earned a 6-2, 2-6, 5-4 (11-9) triumph over Degardin at No. 3, while Stillman swept Denele, 6-3, 6-2, at the second spot.
Junger registered the other win for the Birds at No. 1 by dispatching Trecakov, 6-0, 6-3.
UTSA will return home next weekend to host Incarnate Word (7-2) at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 15.
UTSA 5, New Mexico State 2
Doubles
1. #27 Rubio/Tomas Stillman (UTSA) def. Goldberg/Westgate (NMSU) 8-7 (7-2)
2. Denele/Manivannan (NMSU) def. Junger/Kamiljanov (UTSA) 8-5
3. Brand/Casa (UTSA) def. Degardin/Trecakov (NMSU) 8-6
Singles
1. Yannick Junger (UTSA) def. Strahinja Trecakov (NMSU) 6-0, 6-3
2. Tomas Stillman (UTSA) def. Paul Denele (NMSU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Joel Rubio (UTSA) def. Germain Degardin (NMSU) 6-2, 2-6, 5-4 (11-9)
4. Diogo Casa (UTSA) def. Liam Goldberg (NMSU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
5. Patrick Pfister (NMSU) def. Harley Pearson (UTSA) 6-0, 6-0
6. Naveen Manivannan (NMSU) def. Fabian Brand (UTSA) 6-2, 6-4