HOUSTON — A trio of Roadrunners reached championship matches to highlight action for the UTSA men’s tennis team at the Rice Fall Invitational last weekend at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
Jake Rother advanced to the final match of the Singles Draw D, while the tandem of Diogo Casa and Joao Riquelme reached the Doubles Draw B championship.
Rother drew an opening-round bye and then dispatched Trey Crysel of Lamar with a 6-3, 6-2 decision to reach the semifinals. The senior from San Antonio outlasted Tyler Schick of Tulane, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, before dropping the championship match to Tulane’s Eric Wagner by a 6-2, 6-1 count.
Meanwhile, Casa and Riquelme teamed up for a 6-2 victory against Tucker Brown and Zachary Vander Heidan of Incarnate Word in the first round of the Doubles Draw B. The duo then took care of William Jou and Michael Riechmann of Texas with another 6-2 decision to move into the semifinals. There, the Roadrunners edged Henrik Munch and Dongwei Peng of the host Owls, 7-5, before falling to Rice’s Jake Hansen and Emanuel Llamas, 6-1, in the final.
In the Doubles Draw A, Rother combined with Tito Moreiras for a 6-3 win against Kyle Barnes and Austin McCasin of Army in the first round before dropping into the consolation bracket after a 6-3 setback at the hands of Tulane’s duo of Chi-Shan Jao and Sebastian Rey.
In other singles action, Casa registered a pair of wins in the C Draw. The senior from Brazil opened with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Anirudh Yadav of Prairie View A&M and then rallied for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 victory against Army’s David Mitchell. Casa was ousted from the main draw in the semifinals by Riechmann of Texas, 6-3, 6-4.
The Roadrunners will continue their fall slate at the ITA All-American Championships from Oct. 3-12 in Tulsa, Okla.
2015 Rice Fall Invitational
(UTSA results)
Singles Draw A
First Round
Jamie Malik (Rice) def. Tito Moreiras (UTSA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Consolation
Pierre Garcia (Portland) def. Tito Moreiras (UTSA) 6-1, 6-1
Tito Moreiras (UTSA) def. Podgursky (Nicholls) 1-0, retired
Tito Moreiras (UTSA) def. Tommy Bennett (Rice) withdrew
Singles Draw B
First Round
Carlos Donat (Portland) def. Joao Requilme (UTSA) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3)
Consolation
Evan Karatzas (Nicholls) def. Joao Riquelme (UTSA) 6-2, 6-0
Caison Best (Army) def. Joao Riquelme (UTSA) 6-3, 6-7, (8-10), 10-8
Joao Riquelme (UTSA) def. Jarred Madison (Portland) withdrew
Singles Draw C
First Round
Diogo Casa (UTSA) def. Anirudh Yadav (Prairie View A&M) 6-3, 6-1
Second Round
Diogo Casa (UTSA) def. David Mitchell (Army) 5-7, 7-5, 6-2
Semifinals
Michael Riechmann (Texas) def. Diogo Casa (UTSA) 6-3, 6-4
Consolation
Sam Meessen (Nicholls) def. Diogo Casa (UTSA) 4-6, 6-2, 11-9
Singles Draw D
Second Round
Rother (UTSA) def. Trey Crysel (Lamar) 6-3, 6-2
Semifinals
Rother (UTSA) def. Schick (Tulane) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
Championship
Eric Wagner (Tulane) def. Rother (UTSA) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles Draw A
First Round
Moreiras/Rother (UTSA) def. Barnes/McCasin (Army) 6-2
Second Round
Jao/Rey (Tulane) def. Moreiras/Rother (UTSA) 6-3
Consolation
Feucht/Lis (Lamar) def. Moreiras/Rother (UTSA) 6-4
Cott/Schick (Tulane) def. Moreiras/Rother (UTSA) 7-6 (4)
Doubles Draw B
First Round
Casa/Riquelme (UTSA) def. Brown/Vander Heidan (UIW) 6-2
Second Round
Casa/Riquelme (UTSA) def. Jou/Riechmann (Texas) 6-2
Semifinals
Casa/Riquelme (UTSA) def. Munch/Peng (Rice) 7-5
Championship
Hansen/Llamas (Rice) def. Casa/Riquelme (UTSA) 6-1