SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team got back on the winning track on Friday evening, defeating Western New Mexico 6-1 in the Lone Star Conference opener for the Rattlers.
The victory puts the team one game above .500 at 6-5 overall and 1-0 in league play, while the Mustangs fall to 4-3 on the year and 1-1 in LSC games.
"The men played some really smart doubles and stayed aggressive at the net," said Director of Tennis
Bill Macom. "In singles, our conditioning really paid off for us and we produced a lot of long rallies to our benefit."
The four seniors on the StMU roster,
Pierre Copin (Vidauban, Var, France),
Ian Freire (Guatemala City, Guatemala),
Daniel Matheu Baldor (Madrid, Spain), and
Alvaro Soler (Alicante, Spain), were all honored prior to the match as the team only has one home match remaining on the 2025 regular season slate in Sul Ross State on Sunday. The team plays its final six matches on the road.
Only Copin played doubles, teaming with freshman
Lucas Castillo Sanchez (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) for a 6-2 win at line two to get the Rattlers started. The duo of
Lincoln Baldonado (Glendale, Ariz.) and
Bernhard Hauer (Vienna, Austria) won 6-3 at number three and the one team of
Leonardo Fabbri (Faenza, Italy) and
Louis Hein (Hamburg, Germany) completed the sweep with a 6-4 score.
The Mustangs knotted the score as Alexandre Frigout defeated Hein at line four for the 1-1 tally, but the Rattlers won the final five singles matches for the 6-1 team total.
Castillo Sanchez and Copin won on courts two and three by inverted scores, as Sanchez won 6-1, 6-3 and Copin won 6-3, 6-1. Fabbri clinched the team victory with his 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win on court one.
Both Baldonado and Hauer pulled out exciting three-set wins at lines five and six, respectively. Baldonado dropped his first set 6-2 but refocused to only lose three games the rest of the way, winning 6-2, 6-1, while Hauer fought back from a 6-4 first set loss to win 6-4, 6-0 in the next two and give the Rattlers the 6-1 victory.
St. Mary's hosts Alumni Day at 11 a.m. on Saturday before wrapping up the home portion of the schedule with Sul Ross State on Sunday at 9 a.m.
