Men's Tennis Falls To No. 34 Cameron In Close Battle

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – It can sometimes be difficult to focus in when the outcome of a match is already decided, but the bottom of the St. Mary's Men's Tennis ladder did just that winning the final two matches for the 4-3 loss to No. 34 Cameron on Friday afternoon.
 
Sophomore Oskar Irdoja (Tallinn, Estonia) and freshman Alvaro Soler (Alicante, Spain) both won third-set tiebreakers for the Rattlers (12-2, 1-1 Lone Star) after the Aggies had clinched the team victory. Irdoja fought back after dropping the first set 6-3 to win the next two 6-3 and 10-5, while Soler won the first set in a tiebreak, fell 6-4 in set two and won the international doubles scoring third set 10-4.
 
The Aggies (8-6, 2-1 Lone Star) took the early advantage, winning the doubles points with victories at No. 2 and 3. The tandem of sophomore Jake Faryniarz (San Antonio) and senior Pablo Munoz Baroja (San Sebastian, Spain) were victorious 6-4 at the #1 spot.
 
The Aggies won in straight sets at the top two ladder spots before the Rattlers broke onto the scoreboard with a straight sets win by freshman Niklas Knoerr (Tübingen, Germany) at No. 4. Knoerr won both sets by tiebreak, 7-6 to make the score 3-1. The Aggies clinched with a three-set win at No. 3 before the No. 5 and No. 6 matches took the court.
 
St. Mary's will play at UT Permian Basin on Thursday at 1 p.m. and Western New Mexico on Saturday before returning home for the final time in the regular season the following week.