ODESSA, Texas — The St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team improved to 13-4 on the season and 3-2 in Lone Star Conference play with a 5-2 victory at UT Permian Basin on Friday afternoon.
"It was a really good road win today for the men," said Director of Tennis
Bill Macom. "Winning the doubles point helped us tremendously. It allowed us to maintain some good momentum going into the singles matches, and I know we're all happy about the end result."
The Rattlers stared at a deficit early as the Falcons (4-13, 1-5) won 6-2 at number two doubles, but the freshmen tandem of
Ollie Eriksson (Austin, Texas) and
Victor Velter (Paris, France) won 6-3 at line one and
Leonardo Fabbri (Faenza, Italy) and
Fabian Rosales (Hollywood, Fla.), playing together for the first time this season, won in a tiebreaker on court three, 7-6 (7-5).
Freshman
Diego Alvarez (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) and senior
Aaron Ben Anton (Remseck, Baden Wurttemberg, Germany) quickly pushed the Rattlers lead to 3-0 with straight-sets victories on courts five and six, respectively.
Sophomore
Lucas Castillo Sanchez (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) clinched the team victory with his 6-4, 6-3 win on court one.
The Falcons won the next two points, but freshman
Nikita Gavrilonoks (Riga, Latvia) closed out the match with a thrilling come-from-behind win on court four, taking the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-3, and then winning the 10-point international doubles tiebreaker 10-8.
St. Mary's returns home to host Midwestern State on Sunday, April 19, for Senior Day. First serve for doubles is set for 1:30 p.m., and the ceremony for the seniors will be after the conclusion of the women's game.
