TYLER, Texas — The No. 37 St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team couldn't pull off the upset over No. 8 UT Tyler on Thursday morning on their home courts, dropping a 5-2 decision.
The Rattlers move to 8-7 on the year and 3-2 in Lone Star Conference play, while the Patriots improve to 16-1 overall and remain undefeated (3-0) in league action.
UT Tyler jumped out quickly, winning all three doubles sets for the early 1-0 advantage, and kept the momentum rolling into singles action, taking a 3-0 lead before the Rattlers could break onto the scoreboard.
Freshman
Lincoln Baldonado (Glendale, Ariz.) posted a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles for the first Rattler point after the Patriots got victories from their two nationally-ranked players at No. 1 and No. 4. It is the second straight win for Baldonado, and moves him to 4-1 in Lone Star Conference play.
Fellow freshman
Lucas Castillo Sanchez (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and junior Bernard Hauer (Vienna, Austria) both forced three sets after losing their opening sets, but the Patriots were able to close out the wins.
Senior
Alvaro Soler (Alicante, Spain) wrapped up the day with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 gritty win on court three for the second point. It is also the second win in a row for Soler and moves him to 8-3 in duals. Soler now has 14 conference wins throughout his career, needing one more to tie Jeremiah Sanchez (2017-21) for the all-time record.
Soler gets his first shot at tying the record on Saturday as the Rattlers play in Arlington against DBU at 1 p.m.
