Men's Tennis Victorious in Two States on Friday

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Competing in two different states on the same day, the St. Mary's Men's Tennis team remained undefeated with a 6-1 win over Shorter and a 7-0 sweep over Christian Brothers on Friday.
 
The day started for the Rattlers (6-0) in Memphis, Tenn., as they won 6-1 against Shorter. The team then drove approximately 15 miles to Southaven, Miss., where they shut out Christian Brothers. 
 
The road trip continues for the Rattlers on Saturday as they play at Rhodes College at 9 a.m. and against Tennessee Southern at 11. The members of the team who didn't travel will also be taking on Hardin-Simmons in an exhibition at home at 1 p.m.
 
SHORTER RECAP
In doubles play, senior Chad Nguyen (College Station, Texas) and Sebastian Azcui (La Paz, Bolivia) won 6-3 at No. 1 doubles, while the Shorter squad won 6-4 at No. 3, putting the pressure on the No. 2 teams for the point. The teams had four breaks of serve in the first five games, but sophomore Jake Faryniarz (San Antonio) and Pablo Munoz Baroja (San Sebastián, Spain) for the Rattlers and Jovan Cirkovic and Kiran Namadevan from Shorter settled in, with six straight holds before StMU got the break for the 7-5 victory and the all-important team point.
 
All six singles matches were decided in straight sets. Nguyen, the defending Lone Star Athlete of the Week, won at No. 1, 6-0, 6-2, while sophomore Nicolas Llosa (Lima, Peru) only lost one game at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-0.
 
At #5, sophomore Oskar Irdoja (Tallinn, Estonia) won 6-1, 6-2 and both freshman Niklas Knoerr (Tübingen, Germany) and Munoz Baroja dropped only four games in a 6-2, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-3 victories, respectively. The lone point for the Hawks came at #3, a 6-4, 7-5 win for Jan Kos over Faryniarz.
 
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS RECAP
Once again, the doubles teams set the tone for the entire match as Knoerr and Llosa won 6-1 at No. 1 and Azcui and Nguyen won by the identical score at No. 2 for the first point.
 
Irdoja double bageled his opponent at #5, while Llosa lost only two games at #6, 6-0, 6-2. Alban Piranda hung with Nguyen in the first set, 6-4, but Nguyen shut him out in the second set. Munoz Baroja won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 and Faryniarz rebounded nicely with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 3. Knoerr won 6-4, 6-3 at #4.