KEARNEY, Neb. — Playing indoors for the first time in their collegiate careers, the St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team dropped its first match of the 2026 season, falling 6-1 to Nebraska-Kearney on Friday afternoon.
The Lopers (7-2) won all three doubles bouts, though the Rattlers' (5-1) No. 3 tandem of sophomore
Lucas Castillo Sanchez (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and freshman
Victor Velter (Perpignan, France) threw everything possible at Cesare Carpano and Jakub Strzelecki, falling 9-7 in the tiebreaker.
Castillo Sanchez jumped out to a quick 6-1 first set win over No. 35 Andy Brisdon at No. 2 singles, but Brisdon bounced back to win 6-3 in the second. Castillo Sanchez was able to get a break of serve in the third set for the 6-4 win and keep him undefeated this spring (5-0).
Both senior
Aaron Ben Anton (Remseck, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) at line four and sophomore
Florian Smalto (Paris, France) at line five won their first sets, but were unable to capitalize and lost in three sets.
The Rattlers remain in Kearney to play a pair of neutral-site matches on Saturday, facing Barton County at 9 a.m. and Augustana (SD) at 2 p.m. The match will be the first of the year for Barton, while the Vikings are 0-4.
