SAN ANTONIO — Across town at the UIW Summer Tournament, St. Mary's University Men's and Women's Tennis players continued to have a strong summer, as
Lucas Castillo Sanchez won the men's bracket, and
Madalyn Smelley reached the finals in the women's bracket.
Castillo Sanchez, a junior from Wesley Chapel, Fla., posted his fourth win of the summer after winning a pair of ITA Summer Point series at Baylor and Trinity and the Cedar Creek UTR Men's tournament.
At the Baylor Tournament (June 12-14), Castillo Sanchez won all four matches in straight sets, dropping only 10 games en route to the title and winning 6-2, 6-4 against Swarthmore's Aadhi Raja in the finals. He partnered with Loyola New Orleans freshman Patrick Teuteberg to win the doubles title as well, knocking off the top-seeded team in the finals, 8-5.
During the second week at Trinity (June 19-21), Castillo Sanchez was again the top seed, winning 6-4, 7-5 in the finals against Trinity's Jared Perry, again winning all four matches in straight sets. He knocked off teammate
Ollie Eriksson in the first round, needing a late break of serve in the first set to keep his set record intact.
After winning the UTR Cedar Creek title, he returned to the ITA Summer Series, where he lost his first match of the year in the semifinals at TCU (July 11-12) to third-seeded AJ Deem, who plays collegiately for Utah.
At UIW over the weekend (July 18-19), Castillo Sanchez was once again the top seed, receiving a bye in the first round and winning the next three rounds (with one walkover) in straight sets to bring his record to 19-1 in singles.
Smelley is making her return to play after suffering a season-ending injury during the 2025 fall campaign. In her first ITA Summer Point tournament, Smelley was seeded No. 1 and won her first three rounds in straight sets before falling 6-4, 6-4 to second-seeded Lauren Tadoum.
