SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s tennis team (10-9) dropped a close one to close out the 2024 regular season on Sunday at the UTSA Tennis Center. It all came down to one final court for the second consecutive outing between the Roadrunners and 53rd-ranked Rice Owls (16-7). The Owls escaped San Antonio with a 4-3 win after squeaking out a third-set match point on the sixth court to avoid the upset.
The Roadrunners were forced to play from behind after the Owls claimed the doubles point. Trailing 1-0 in doubles action, seniors Jackson Ross and Garrett Skelly evened things up but Alan Magadan and Miguel Alonso fell just short of the clinch win on court three, dropping behind Arthus de la Bassetiere and Eduardo Morais, 5-7.
UTSA fell behind early on three courts and again had to battle back, but the Roadrunners quickly made up some ground, as Tomás Pinho avenged the doubles loss with a 6-3, 6-0 besting of de la Bassetiere on the third line, then Magadan followed with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Yasha Zemel on the top court, pushing UTSA in front. Rice wins on five and four gave the Owls the edge back, but Tiago Torres rallied on court two from a first-set loss to defeat Trinity Grear 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and knot the match at 3-all. Kabeer Kapasi was able to outlast Alonso on six to secure match point with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 third-set win.
Quoting Coach Sergey Avdeyev
“It was a tough one today. We were fighting from behind most of the match and lost three quick sets in singles that hurt our momentum. We cannot do that against a solid team like Rice. That deficit was hard to overcome, but we almost pulled it off.”
Final Score (UTSA 3, No. 53 Rice 4)
Doubles Results (UTSA 0, No. 53 Rice 1)
Order of Finish: (1, 2, 3)
1. Yasha Zemel/Kabeer Kapasi (RICE) def. Tomas Pinho/Tiago Torres: 6-2
2. Jackson Ross/Garrett Skelly def. Trinity Grear/Petro Kuzmenok (RICE): 6-2
3. A. de la Bassetiere/Eduardo Morais (RICE) def. Miguel Alonso/Alan Magadan: 7-5
Singles Results (UTSA 3, No. 53 Rice 3)
Order of Finish: (3, 1, 5, 4, 2, 6)
1. Alan Magadan def. Yasha Zemel (RICE): 6-4, 6-3
2. Tiago Torres def. Trinity Grear (RICE): 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. Tomas Pinho def. A. de la Bassetiere (RICE): 6-3, 6-0
4. Emir Sendogan (RICE) def. Danijal Muminovic: 6-2, 6-4
5. Petro Kuzmenok (RICE) def. Jackson Ross: 6-2, 6-4
6. Kabeer Kapasi (RICE) def. Miguel Alonso: 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Up Next
The Roadrunners will head to Tulsa for the program’s inaugural appearance in the American Athletic Conference Championships, running Thursday, April 18 to Sunday, April 21. The bracket for the AAC Men's Championship will be released in the evening on Monday, April 15. Seeds will be determined by ITA rankings, which will be inclusive of Monday's remaining matches across the league.
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