UTSA men’s tennis lost 4-2 to Wichita State on Sunday at the UTSA Tennis Center.
Adjustments in doubles pairs proved to be beneficial when combatting Wichita State’s young roster. Thanks to the efforts made by every UTSA doubles team, the Roadrunners (3-5) took an early lead over the Shockers (4-5), but the men met their match in singles.
“That’s a tough one, a tough loss. Those guys stepped up at the right moment,” coach Sasha Gozun said. “You can feel when the energy of the match was changing a little bit and affected some of their players in a better and positive way, and we didn’t. That’s just how it is in tennis: you win some, you lose some.”
With the final decision point on the line, seniors Danijal Muminovic and No. 103 Tiago Torres had to win their matches to beat Wichita State. Both Torres and Muminovic won their first sets but dropped their second. As they both trailed 4-0 side-by-side on courts one and two, they struggled to fight off the pressure. Muminovic lost 7-5, 3-6, 1-6
“We talk about having short-term memory and be a goldfish, some of them take it very personally,” Gozun said about how the athletes felt about their losses. “They just need to understand that it’s a game and there’s other aspects of life other than trial and error.”
Freshman Enzo Vargas brought home the sole singles point for the team after defeating Zaid Al Mashni, 6-1, 6-3. Since their loss to Florida Atlantic University, doubles adjustments were made. Torres and senior Miguel Alonso, who have occupied court one in the last two home games, were paired up with new partners.
Alonso teamed up with freshman Santiago Flyckt on court three to beat the Shockers 6-2. Freshman duo Oskar Grzegorzewski and Ben Chetewy Ungar moved up to court one at home for the first time this semester and closed out their match 6-4, securing the first doubles point for the ‘Runners. Torres geared up alongside Vargas on court two and led 6-5 before the doubles matches concluded. Muminovic did not compete in doubles for the first time this season.
“The last two matches that we played, we didn’t play really well. So we decided to switch it up to see if it was gonna benefit the team,” Gozun said of the changes in doubles. “It doesn’t look like we’re gonna stay with one pair only. It looks like we’re just gonna keep mixing it up until we find that secret formula.”
UTSA will hit the road to compete in the Diablos College Invitational Friday and Saturday in Tempe, Arizona.
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