UTSA men’s tennis (10-5) continued their midseason surge this past weekend on Saturday, March 20, with back-to-back sweeps against the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Cardinals (3-4) and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros (3-12). The pair of sweeps kept up a hot streak for the team as they have now won seven of their last ten matches. 

Things got started with UTSA’s matchup against UIW in doubles. The team of Sebastian Rodriguez and Joao Ceolin defeated UIW’s Marwin Kralemann and Pietro Perego by a score of 6-3 to put UTSA in a position to claim the matches’ doubles point. The Roadrunners did so after Javier Gonzalez and Garrett Skelly claimed a 6-3 win of their own over the Cardinals’ Arnau Miralles and Noah De Luna, putting UTSA up 1-0 in the overall match. Singles competition was a swift affair for UTSA. Juri Reckow got things started for the ‘Runners with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Kralemann in straight sets. Ceolin then saw off Miralles with a quick 6-0 6-2 win in dominant fashion. Skelly finished things off for UTSA in a 6-2 6-3 win over Warren Fulgenzi Jr. to secure UTSA’s third singles point and the overall match by a final of 4-0. 

In their second match of the day, UTSA went up against UTRGV and got off to a similarly fast start. The team of Reckow and Slava Gulin picked up UTSA’s first win in doubles with a 6-4 victory over Carlo Izurieta and Samuel De Felipe Garcia. Skelly and Gonzalez once again acted as closers for the ‘Runners beating the Vaqueros’ team of Te Kani Williams and Mateo Schmit by a final score of 6-3 to claim the doubles point. Riding that wave of momentum, the ‘Runners blitzed their way through singles play. Reckow once again led things off with a win by a score of 6-4 6-3 over Izurieta. The win runs Reckow’s individual record in singles play to 11-1 this season and a phenomenal 20-1 mark in the last two seasons. Gulin took a tight game over Williams 7-6 4-2, and then Skelly wrapped things up for the day with a 6-1 6-3 win over Schmit to claim the third singles point and the match 4-0. 

UTSA continues to ride a trio of strong performers in singles play, with Reckow, Gulin and Ceolin combining for a 26-6 overall record. The ‘Runners will be back in action at home on Friday, March 26, at 2 p.m., when they take on the University of South Florida Bulls (10-4), currently ranked 29th in the nation. 

UTSA women’s tennis (6-8) had a pair of games last week where they took on the Southern Methodist University Mustangs (SMU) (14-7) and UIW (0-9). The ‘Runners managed to split the two games, losing to SMU by a final score of 2-5 on Saturday, March 20, before bouncing back on Tuesday, March 23, sweeping UIW by a final score of 7-0.

Things got started on Saturday against the Mustangs, and the ‘Runners got off to a slow start in doubles play. The teams of Aleksandra Zlatarova and Jasmin Starr and Sophie Omoworare and Keegan McCain each dropped their doubles games by a score of 1-6, giving SMU the doubles point and match lead 0-1. UTSA’s hopes for a comeback lay in singles play, and they could not pull off the rally. Zlatarova dropped her match to SMU’s Hadley Doyle 0-6 3-6, Catalina Cabrique fell in a similar fashion to Claudia Bartolome 1-6 3-6, and Keegan McCain was also swept aside by Nicole Petchey 2-6 5-7, giving SMU the match victory. UTSA successfully averted the sweep, however, as Weir triumphed in three sets over SMU’s Winslow Huth 5-7 6-1 6-2, and Starr defeated Jackie Nylander 2-6 6-4 7-5 to secure UTSA their only two points in the match. Laura Munoz-Baroja fell to Avery Hilbig in the final singles game of the day 6-4 2-6 5-7 in a hard-fought match, and SMU walked away with the 2-5 victory over UTSA. 

Looking to bounce back from their defeat on Saturday, the ‘Runners returned to the court on Tuesday to take on UIW in downtown San Antonio. The ‘Runners set the tone early in doubles play where Weir and Cabrique took out their opponents by a score of 6-2, and then Zlatarova and Omoworare claimed the doubles point for UTSA with a 6-3 victory. Singles play was an absolute romp for the ‘Runners with McCain getting things off to a great start with a 6-0 6-0 sweep. Starr then won her game 6-1 6-2 to put UTSA up on the overall scoreboard 3-0 and on match point. Zlatarova secured the match with a 6-0 6-3 victory, and UTSA just piled it on from there. Weir took her game 6-4 6-0, but the final two games of the series went the distance. Omoworare bounced back from an opening set loss to storm back and take the final two sets for a 2-6 6-2 10-8 victory and Cabrique also triumphed in three sets 7-3 3-6 10-5. 

UTSA women’s tennis is next in action on Sunday, March 28, for their first match at home in almost two full months when they take on the University of North Texas (4-9) at 2 p.m.