Men's Tennis Battles Both Weather and Division I Foe

SAN ANTONIO — Battling both the cold and a Division I foe, the St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team dropped an exhibition to UTRGV on Saturday evening, 6-1, in the team's first action of the spring.
 
The lone point for the Rattlers came at No. 6 singles as freshman Leonardo Fabbri (Faenza, Italy) posted a straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
 
The tandem of freshman Louis Hein (Hamburg, Germany) and senior Ryan Koth (Boerne, Texas), playing together for the first time as Hein did not compete in the fall, pulled off the 6-3 victory at No. 2 doubles, knotting the score at 1-1 before the Vaqueros No. 3 team pulled out the 6-4 win for the initial point.

"We showed a lot of improvement in our doubles today," said Director of Tennis Bill Macom. "I thought our forward movement, reflex volleys and put-away shots were solid. Our returning players battled in their singles as they usually do, and two of our newcomers were impressive in their first dual singles matches with us."
 
All six singles matches were decided in straight sets, though sophomore Aaron Ben Anton (Remseck, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) battled tough in the first set at No. 4, forcing a tiebreaker before falling 7-6 (4), 6-3.
 
St. Mary's hosts both Cowley County Community College (9 a.m.) and Jacksonville College (1:30 p.m.) in a pair of exhibition matches in one week. The team kicks off the regular season at Schreiner on Saturday, Feb. 10 in another doubleheader.