SAN ANTONIO – UTSA's doubles team of Alan Magadan and Sebastian Rodriguez have been awarded a national ranking, being named the sixth-best doubles team in the country on Wednesday morning, the ITA announced.
Earlier today, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released the NCAA Division I Men's ITA Collegiate Tennis National Rankings sponsored by Tennis-Point which features the Top 60 doubles teams at the conclusion of the fall season.
UTSA's pair of Magadan and Rodriguez is one of three schools not from a power five conference to appear in the top 15 nationally ranked teams. UTSA, as well as UPenn and Columbia, are the lone non-power five conference teams ranked in the top 15 nationally. UTSA's doubles team is the highest-ranked non-power five team in the country, checking in at number six.
UTSA head coach Sergey Avdeyev said, "I'm so excited to see a our doubles team ranked in the top 10 of the country! It's just a reflection of Alan and Sebastian's hard work. It is very special for the team and the program to have our players ranked #6. I'm so proud of the guys and the way they competed over the last two months."
Magadan and Rodriguez had a historic fall for the Roadrunners, advancing further than any UTSA team ever has. The pair recorded an 11-4 record in the fall, dropping three early doubles matches in September as the two grew accustomed to each other's play before rattling off their historic run.
The run began in Waco, Texas at the ITA Texas Regionals, widely considered the most difficult regional in the country, where they began with a first-round bye. The two then went on to defeat teams from Texas Tech (87-73) and Rice (8-4) to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the ITA Regional quarterfinals, UTSA defeated #25 Texas A&M (8-4) before heading to a best-of-three match in the semifinals against a top-15 opponent in Baylor (#14). Magadan and Rodriguez disposed of Baylor's pair of Jake Finn Bass and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (6-4, 1-6, 10-8).
The win in the semifinals guaranteed the Roadrunners a place in the ITA Nationals, but there was a title left to win. In the finals, Magadan and Rodriguez met the No. 3 ranked doubles Alexander Jong and Lui Maxted from TCU. UTSA gained control early in the first set and didn't look back, claiming the ITA Texas Regional championship (6-3, 6-3).
As stated, in making it to the ITA Regional championship, UTSA's duo qualified for the ITA Nationals which were held in San Diego. There, Magadan and Rodriguez opened competition with the Ohio Valley Regional champions of Louisville, No. 46 ranked Natan Rodrigues and Fabien Salle. UTSA and Louisville traded blows in a close match that saw UTSA pull out a three-set victory (5-7, 6-4, 10-4).
In the ITA Nationals round of 16, UTSA faced its first unranked pair since the third round of the Texas Regionals in Daniel De Jonge and Tim Zeitvogel of Pepperdine. UTSA played yet another tight one, just edging out the Pepperdine duo in three sets (7-5, 3-6, 10-6).
Magadan and Rodriguez's win pushed them ahead into the quarterfinals, where they were the lone non-power five school present. With just eight doubles pairs remaining, UTSA found itself facing off with another unranked squad in Utah (Berk Bugarikj & Patrik Trhac). Rodriguez and Magadan battled hard, playing their third straight three-set match, but fell to Utah (7-5, 1-6, 7-10), thus ending the historic run.
Having proved their mettle, Magadan and Rodriguez were nationally recognized with Wednesday's top-10 ranking. Of the five teams in front of the Roadrunner tandem, UTSA has played three of them and beaten two (#3 Jake Finn Bass and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi of Baylor, #4 Alexander Jong and Lui Maxted of TCU and #5 Berk Bugarikj & Patrik Trhac of Utah).
Pepperdine's unranked duo that UTSA faced in the second round of Nationals now checks in at No. 34 nationally while the Louisville pair that UTSA faced in round one of Nationals now sits at No. 9.
Note: The rankings during Alan and Sebastian's run were updated as of today's announcement by the ITA, hence the differing rankings throughout the article.
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