Men's Tennis Splits Pair of Home Exhibition Matches

SAN ANTONIO — A long day of tennis netted a split for the St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team on Saturday as they lost 6-1 to Cowley County before winning 7-0 against Jacksonville College in a pair of exhibition matches.
 
"Overall, I think we competed at a high level today," said Director of Tennis Bill Macom. "Cowley County won the national championship last year (in NJCAA) and we were on par with them."
 
The lone point in the morning match came at No. 3 singles as senior Nicolas Llosa (Lima, Peru) pulled out a pair of thrilling tiebreakers. In the first set, Llosa won 9-7 in the tiebreaker, but Tadeo Gaggiofatto came storming back to win the second set by the score of 6-2. In the 10-point doubles scoring third set, the pair went back-and-forth before Llosa finally won 12-10.
 
Junior Alvaro Soler (Alicante, Spain) also played a thriller at No. 1 but fell just short to Bruno Nhavene. Nhavene jumped out early, winning the first set 6-2. Each recorded late breaks of serves over the next two sets as Soler won set two, 7-5 before Nhavene won the third set by the identical score.
 
The Rattlers were dominant in the second match as all four doubles matches saw multiple breaks of serve and all six singles matches were decided in straight sets. 
 
Senior Oskar Irdoja (Tallinn, Estonia) won all seven games at No. 1 before his opponent retired, 6-0, 1-0. He and Llosa paired up at No. 1 doubles to begin the match with a 6-2 victory.
 
At the sixth singles position, junior Daniel Matheu Baldor (Madrid, Spain) only dropped one game in his 6-1, 6-0 victory.

The matches conclude the exhibition portion of the 2024 schedule. The regular season for the Rattlers begins on Feb. 10 at Schreiner with another doubleheader. StMU takes on Schreiner at Noon, followed by a matchup with McMurry at 3 p.m.
 
St. Mary's vs Cowley County
Singles
1. Bruno Nhavene (CC) def. Alvaro Soler                  6-2, 5-7, 7-5
2. Reiya Komagata (CC) def. Oskar Irdoja                 6-4, 6-4
3. Nicolas Llosa (StMU) def. Tadeo Gaggiofatto       7-6 (7), 2-6, 1-0 (12-10)
4. Pedro De la Riva (CC) def. Aaron Ben Anton         1-6, 6-1, 7-5
5. Omar Suarez (CC) def. Louis Hein                         6-2, 6-1
6. Sergio Ale Gonzalez (CC) def. Ryan Koth               6-3, 6-3
Non-Scoring Singles
Leonardo Fabbri (StMU) def. Valentin Greco           8-3
Daniel Matheu Baldor (StMU) def. Bar Meshel        8-2
Miguel Vieira (CC) def. Jake Faryniarz                       9-8 (7-5)
Ian Freire (StMU) def. Bautista Rooney                    9-8 (13-11)
Doubles
1. Komagata/Nhavene (CC) def. Irdoja/Llosa           6-1
2. Anton/Faryniarz (StMU) def. Gaggiofatto/Greco 6-4
3. Gonzalez/Suarez (CC) def. Hein/Koth                   6-4
Non-Scoring Doubles
Fabbri/Soler (StMU) def. Meshel/Vieira                   6-4
 
St. Mary's vs Jacksonville
Singles
1. Oskar Irdoja (StMU) def. Edoardo Brustia            6-0, 1-0 ret.
2. Louis Hein (StMU) def. Andres Ayala                    7-6 (3), 6-4
3. Jake Faryniarz (StMU) def. Brock Dawson            6-1, 6-2
4. Ryan Koth (StMU) def. Franco Vedda                   6-2, 6-4
5. Leonardo Fabbri (StMU) def. Felipe Osorio          6-3, 6-2
6. Daniel Matheu Baldor (StMU) def. Silvio Xavier   6-1, 6-0
Doubles
1. Irdoja/Nicolas Llosa (StMU) def. Edan Benitez/Brustia      6-2
2. Aaron Ben Anton/Faryniarz (StMU) def. Ayala/Vedda      6-2
3. Fabbri/Alvaro Soler (StMU) def. Osorio/Xavier                  6-1
Non-Scoring Doubles
Hein/Koth (StMU) def. Dawson/Macarthur Swain                6-1