Men's Tennis Takes Six of Seven Points From UTPB

MIDLAND, Texas – The St. Mary's Men's Tennis Team returned to its winning ways with a 6-1 victory at UT Permian Basin on Thursday afternoon.
 
Five of the six singles matches were decided in straight sets, though three of those five went to tiebreaks as the Rattlers improved to 13-3 overall and 2-1 in Lone Star Conference play.
 
St. Mary's won at No. 1 and 2 doubles for the first point of the match. Senior Pablo Munoz Baroja (San Sebastian, Spain) and sophomore Jake Faryniarz (San Antonio) fought through the first tiebreaker of the day, winning 7-6 (7-2) at number one doubles after freshman Niklas Knoerr (Tübingen, Germany) and sophomore Nicolas Llosa (Lima, Peru) wrapped up a 6-1 decision at No. 2 and UTPB won 6-2 at No. 3.
 
Baroja kept things rolling, winning 6-4, 7-6 (1) at number three. Sophomore Oskar Irdoja (Tallinn, Estonia) bounced back after dropping the first set 6-3 to win 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 and Knoerr won 6-3, 7-6 (3) at No. 4 to clinch the victory for the Rattlers.
 
Llosa got a pair of late breaks of serve to win 7-5, 7-5 at No. 6. The Falcons got their lone point at No. 2 singles, but senior Chad Nguyen (College Station, Texas) pulled off the 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win at No. 1 for the sixth-point.
 
The Rattlers remain on the road, going to Western New Mexico on Saturday. The team returns home to host Midwestern State on Friday and DBU on Saturday in the final two home matches of the year.