Men's Tennis Drops Tight Match to NAIA #23 OLLU

SAN ANTONIO — The conditions weren't terrific for outdoor sports, but the St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team battled tough through the 19-mile-per-hour winds and gusts into the 30s but fell to NAIA #23 Our Lady of the Lake, 4-3 on Wednesday.
 
The Saints (8-10) won the doubles point, but seniors Jake Faryniarz (San Antonio) and Oskar Irdoja (Tallinn, Estonia) avoided the sweep with a 6-1 victory at No. 2 doubles.
 
Irdoja carried over his momentum to win quickly on court three and tie the team match at 1-1. Irdoja won 6-1, 6-4 to move to 3-1 on the young season. OLLU regained the lead with a win at number one.
 
Minutes later, Faryniarz knotted the score again with his 7-5, 6-4 victory at the fourth ladder position. He remains unbeaten on the year, moving to 4-0 with the straight-sets victory.
 
Once again, the Saints took the team lead with a straight-sets win on court two, though junior Alvaro Soler (Alicante, Spain) forced a tiebreak in the opening set before falling 7-4.
 
Sophomore Aaron Ben Anton (Remseck, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) dropped the opening set 6-4 at number 5, but battled back to win the next two, 6-3, 6-2, putting all the pressure on court six.
 
The two didn't disappoint; junior Daniel Matheu Baldor (Madrid, Spain) won the first set 6-3. He and Luis Hernandez went back-and-forth in the second set with Hernandez winning 14-12 in the tiebreak. He got one break of serve to win 6-4 in the the final set to give the Saints the 4-3 win.
 
The Rattlers host the University of Saint Mary on Friday, March 8 at 1 p.m. at the Rohrbach Tennis Stadium.