The No. 60 UTSA men’s tennis team (7-4) and the UTSA women’s tennis team (1-11) were both in action on the courts this past week. The men’s team played three matches, taking wins over UT Arlington (8-5) and Abilene Christian University (4-9), before falling in a close battle to fellow ITA Top-75 team No. 36 Texas Tech (10-5). Meanwhile, the women took on the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (13-2) and were unable to pick up the victory.

The men started off the week on Wednesday, March 2, taking on UT Arlington at home, and the Roadrunners dominated the whole way through. The ‘Runners breezed their way to the doubles point and rolled that performance right into singles play, where they took five of six matches to cruise to a 6-1 match victory. Sebastian Rodriguez in particular was in solid form, dispatching UT Arlington’s Anton Shepp in a straight-set 6-1, 6-2 victory. 

The ‘Runners then hit the road on Saturday, March 5, to face off against the Abilene Christian Wildcats. In a much closer match than the one they played on Wednesday, the ‘Runners proved their mettle. After UTSA secured the doubles point the teams traded singles points back-and-forth, but the ‘Runners eventually emerged as the victor. Five of the six matches played in singles competition went to three sets as both teams left everything out on the court. Though, Thanks to victories by Joao Ceolin over Daniel Morozov 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, Sebastian Rodriguez over Savan Chhabra 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and Tiago Torres over Tyler Stewart 6-2, 6-2,  the ‘Runners escaped with a hard-fought 4-3 overall match win. 

The following day, UTSA traveled to Lubbock, Texas, for a matchup against the No. 36 Texas Tech Red Raiders. UTSA got off to a good start in doubles play thanks to a win by the team of Rodriguez and Torres over Reed Collier and Dimitrios Azoidis 7-6 (7-4), which broke a 1-1 tie in doubles and gave UTSA an early 1-0 match score advantage. In singles play, however, the Red Raiders exerted their will. Torres lost to Olle Wallin 4-6, 2-6 and then Ceolin dropped his game to Isaac Arevalo 2-6, 3-6 to give the Red Raiders the match lead 1-2. Maxim Groysman fought back for the ‘Runners and tied things up after defeating Azoidis 7-5, 6-4, but that was all UTSA could muster. Javier Gonzalez lost to Ilgiz Valiev in a tight match 4-6, 6-7 (5-7) to put the Red Raiders on match point and then Collier finished the job by defeating Rodriguez 0-6, 6-4, 5-7 to give Texas Tech the overall match win by a final score of 2-4. 

On the women’s side, their rough run of form continued, albeit with some positive performances. Taking on Louisiana Tech, the Roadrunners got off to a slow start in doubles once again, dropping two games in quick fashion to give Louisiana Tech a 0-1 advantage in the overall match score. In singles play, though, the ‘Runners got multiple points on the board for the first time since January 30. After a forfeit gave Louisiana Tech a 0-2 advantage, the ‘Runners got to work. Although they would eventually lose the match 2-5, singles wins by Aleksandra Zlatarova over Leonie Schuknecht 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 and Jasmin Starr over Olga Bienzobas 6-4, 6-4 gave UTSA some hope going forward that the team is beginning to stir from their near season-long slump. 

Men’s and women’s tennis will both be back on the court this week, with the men taking on Charlotte (7-4) and SMU (8-3) at home on March 12 and 13, respectively, while the women will square off against Gonzaga (5-3) and Liberty (9-4) at home on March 10 and 13.