NORFOLK, Va. — Tomas Stillman rallied for a three-set win in the top singles match to help UTSA capture the Conference USA Men’s Tennis Championship with a 4-2 victory against No. 54 Rice on Sunday at Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.
The Roadrunners ran their record to 17-8 on the year with their fourth straight victory and captured the program’s fourth overall and third conference tournament title in the process. It marks the second league crown for fifth-year head coach Jeff Kader, who also led UTSA to the 2012 Southland Conference Tournament Championship.
"I'm incredibly proud of the team effort our guys put in all weekend up here," Kader said. "About halfway through the season, we really made a conscious effort of coming together as a team because, in this sport, it's the best team that ends up winning. I knew we had the talent to do it, but to see them buy in to the team-first mentality and succeed by winning this championship is a great feeling and very rewarding."
UTSA grabbed a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point, but the top-seeded Owls (12-14) moved out in front by a 2-1 count after capturing the first two singles matches that finished. The Roadrunners responded by claiming three straight battles, including Stillman’s rally at No 1, to secure their first-ever C-USA title and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
Stillman, the ITA’s 82nd-ranked singles player, dropped the first set to Srikar Alla, 6-3, but evened things with a 6-3 win of his own in the second. The senior from Harlingen then dug deep for a 6-0 blanking in the third to clinch the win for the third-seeded Roadrunners. Stillman improved to 20-3 this spring with his seventh straight victory and he now owns a 41-5 dual match record in his two-year UTSA career.
The Roadrunners were victorious in two of the three doubles matches to start the day.
Diogo Casa and Yannick Junger paired up for an 8-5 win against Jamie Malik and Zach Yablon at No. 2, while Jake Rother and Joel Rubio scored an 8-4 triumph over Gustavo Gonzalez and Adam Gustafsson at the third spot. That decision clinched the first point of the match and stopped a 7-7 battle on center court between a pair of nationally ranked tandems in UTSA’s No. 67 Tito Moreiras and Stillman and Rice’s 64th-ranked Max Andrews and David Warren.
The Owls knotted the score at one when Gustafsson swept Rubio, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 4 and then took a one-point advantage after Andrews dispatched Junger, 6-3, 6-1, on the second court.
Casa tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Gonzalez at No. 6 and Moreiras put UTSA one point away from clinching with a 6-4, 6-3 decision against Malik at the third spot.
The win was UTSA’s second this year against their in-state rival following a 4-3 victory on Jan. 16 in Houston. The Roadrunners now have won three straight and four of the last five in the series.
UTSA now will await word of its matchup for the NCAA Championship bracket when the Division I selections are announced via a live video stream on ncaa.com at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28. The first round is scheduled for Friday, May 8, at various campus sites.
UTSA 4, #54 Rice 2
Doubles
1. #64 Andrews/Warren (RICE) vs. #67 Moreiras/Stillman (UTSA) 7-7, unfinished
2. Casa/Junger (UTSA) def. Malik/Yablon (RICE) 8-5
3. Rother/Rubio (UTSA) def. Gonzalez/Gustafsson (RICE) 8-4
Singles
1. #82 Tomas Stillman (UTSA) def. Srikar Alla (RICE) 3-6, 6-3, 6-0
2. Max Andrews (RICE) def. Yannick Junger (UTSA) 6-3, 6-1
3. Tito Moreiras (UTSA) def. Jamie Malik (RICE) 6-4, 6-3
4. Adam Gustafsson (RICE) def. Joel Rubio (UTSA) 6-1, 6-2
5. Joao Riquelme (UTSA) vs. David Warren (RICE) 6-7 (6-8), 6-6 (3-6), unfinished
6. Diogo Casa (UTSA) def. Gustavo Gonzalez (RICE) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (4,2,6,3,1)