UTSA’s men’s tennis team has broken school records this past season. Some of their most notable accolades include continuously holding a spot in the top 50 best college tennis teams ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association since March.

“Honestly, the biggest thing that has changed this year is belief in ourselves,” head coach Sergey Avdeyev said. “We have done fairly well in the last several years as well. With every year, we want to step forward.”

“We’ve developed ground fundamentals the last couple of years, so now we just see the results, and honestly, it came with us just improving that 1%, which is belief. That really helped us get those big wins to become a ranked team. We have had tremendous success this [past] fall as well.”

As a team, the men won their H-E-B tournament last February, beating Texas A&M for the first time in school history, and they were named team of the month by the ITA in March for their 14-match win streak that spanned two months.

In February, the team was ranked at the 67th spot and moved up twenty places to the 47th spot within one week. They were ranked at the 37th spot in mid-March, the highest a UTSA men’s tennis team has ever been ranked.

The team just finished their regular season with a 6-1 win against The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“Our doubles team won the regional championship in doubles, they made it to Nationals and they made quarterfinals, so that really gave our other guys a lot of belief and trust that we could beat anybody in the country,” Avdeyev said.

Alan Magadan and Sebastian Rodriguez became the doubles regional champions back in October and have been ranked as high as the sixth-best doubles team in the country by the ITA.

Rodriguez was named the C-USA athlete of the month back in October, while Magadan was named athlete of the week by C-USA in March.

“We match them for their style and for their skills, and also personality plays a big role,” Avdeyev said. “Like when we match them, we want to see who bonds together better and what energy they have. It’s important, and it’s very clear. When we see that the chemistry for two players is working well, then we keep them together.”

Danijal Muminovic and Miguel Alonso were also doubles draw champions this past fall, and Muminovic was just named a member of C-USA’s all-academic team.

“As a coach, the most rewarding thing to me is seeing results,” Avdeyev said. “We worked very hard the last three years to get here, and that really starts with practice. But seeing the guys bonding together, supporting each other, to a coach, that’s a big thing.”

Avdeyev said that he believes in this upcoming tournament that the team will have more of a challenge when they face FIU but do not count out Charlotte as an opponent as well. He also said that students could show their support by cheering for the team online.

“I think just sharing posts, liking them and leaving comments would be the best thing they can do. Just so at least we know that they’re aware they’re behind us and that they’re very excited that we’re trying to win,” Avdeyev said.