UTSA beat Abilene Christian University 5-2 to secure the team’s second home victory on Saturday at the UTSA Tennis Complex.
The Wildcats (11-7) earned a point when the Roadrunners (6-9) dropped the ball and lost their doubles. Though, thanks to all three seniors taking commanding leads during their singles matches, the ‘Runners triumphed to claim their first home win since their home-opener.
“After doubles, all of us had a conversation to pick it up because doubles weren’t good,” senior Tiago Torres said. “You just need to turn around and play better. We can’t keep complaining because after 30 minutes of complaining, you already lost a set, so what’s the point? There are six [courts] out there, and we won five of them, so that’s great for us, for the guys and for our confidence.”
“Especially after the tough loss we had last weekend,” senior Miguel Alonso added.
Senior Danijal Muminovic struggled through his first set before eventually finding his footing. From there, he took control with overhand returns and translated that momentum into his second set to dominate with a 4-point lead. The Bosnian native defeated Hungarian sophomore Merse Deli 6-2, 6-2.
“That’s a match on two boys,” Muminovic yelled out across the courts following his win on court two.
Alonso pummeled sophomore Alejandro Verdasco 6-3, 6-4 to finish second on court three. He carried out his first two-set win and first match win at home of the season.
“It feels good for sure,” Alonso said of his feat. “Coming back from playing two weekends [away] and coming back home to win, it feels good.”
No. 96 Torres claimed the first game point against senior Daniel Morozovon but had a hard fight ahead of him. The Portuguese battled in a tie-breaking second set showdown to claim a 6-2, 7-6 victory over the American. Coming into this match, Torres was the only Roadrunner to have defeated the Wildcats in both doubles and singles.
With a 7-6, 6-3 win on court four from freshman Enzo Vargas, the team claimed their fourth point to secure their victory but played out the other two matches anyway. Freshman Oskar Grezegorzewski finished off sophomore Dennis Dutine in another tie-breaking three-set match with a final score of 6-7, 6-4, 10-6. Freshman Ben Chetewy Ungar made a comeback during his second set but failed to win his first and third, losing 2-6, 6-3, 4-6.
“I would say that the majority of us were nervous,” Muminovic said of the team’s apprehension of heading into singles. “But once we started playing our game and being present, we did a great job. It’s not easy to lose the doubles and start the singles, but of course I’m proud of the guys.”
This was the first time both Muminovic and Alonso have beat their Abilene Christian counterparts. With this win, UTSA has leveled out their overall record against the Wildcats at 3-3.
“This season we had a lot of chances against great teams, and we couldn’t take it, but today was good. It’s always good to win at home,” Torres said. “We’re getting to the main point of the season, which is conference. We have four games left, so it’s good to win at this time and get the confidence to play conference, which is the goal.”
The men’s tennis team will head to Houston, Texas to play University of North Carolina at Charlotte Saturday at George R. Brown Tennis Center.
English
Spanish