SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team kicked off the fall season across town at the Trinity Invitational, facing teams from UIW, Our Lady of the Lake, Texas Wesleyan and the host Tigers.
Due to heavy rains in the San Antonio area on Friday afternoon, the teams were limited to either one or two singles matches, and two doubles matches for the weekend.
"This weekend was a great opportunity to see how we fare against some high-quality opponents," said Assistant Coach
Dakota Fernandez. "Despite the inclement weather and late night on Friday, followed by a quick turnaround on Saturday, I thought the gentlemen showed a great deal of tenacity and poise. While we did not get as many wins as we would have liked, I do think it was a great learning opportunity."
Both junior
Lucas Castillo Sanchez (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and sophomore
Nikita Gavrilonoks (Riga, Latvia) won in straight sets in the quarterfinals before falling to a member of the host school in the semifinals. Castillo Sanchez won 6-2, 6-2 against Texas Wesleyan's Yoni Danzic in the quarters, while Gavrilonoks bested OLLU's Corentin Fusaro with a late break of serve in the first set and dropped only one game in set two, 7-5, 6-1.
Junior
Florian Smalto (Paris, France) bounced back after dropping his opening match to win via the double bagel in the west semifinals, knocking off Alex Capilla from Texas Wesleyan.
The Rattlers remain in San Antonio, hosting the annual Brother Al Invitational at Rohrbach Tennis Stadium Oct. 2-4.
SINGLES
Diego Alvarez, Flight 1 (0-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Santiago Flyckt, UIW, 2-6, 2-6
Lucas Castillo Sanchez, Flight 1 (1-1)
Quarterfinals: def. Yoni Danzic, TWU, 6-2, 6-2
Semifinals: lost to Jared Perry, Trinity, 6-1, 6-3
Ollie Eriksson, Flight 2 (0-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Marcel Miralles, UIW, 6-3, 1-6, [5-10]
Victor Velter, Flight 2 (0-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Rafael Candelas Ruiz, UIW, 6-4, 4-6, [7-10]
Nikita Gavrilonoks, Flight 3 (1-1)
Quarterfinals: def. Corentin Fusaro, OLLU, 7-5, 6-1
Semifinals: lost to Brodie Keller, Trinity, 2-6, 2-6
Lincoln Baldonado, Flight 3 (0-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Kartick Gusain, Trinity, 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-5), [9-11]
West Semifinals: withdrew
Florian Smalto, Flight 4 (1-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Ian Uraga, UIW, 1-6, 3-6
West Semifinals: def. Alex Capilla, TWU, 6-0, 6-0
Prateek Singla, Flight 4 (0-1)
Quarterfinals: lost to Bede McCashin, TWU, 7-5, 5-5 (ret, inj)
DOUBLES
Lucas Castillo Sanchez and Lincoln Baldonado, Flight 1 (1-2)
Quarterfinals: lost to Alejo Zurmendi and Bede McCashin, TWU, 4-8
West Semifinals: def. Santiago Flyckt and Carlos Mendoza Hernandez, UIW, W/O (Injury)
West Finals: lost to David Simecek and Eliott Costa, OLLU, W/O (Injury)
Nikita Gavrilonoks and Ollie Eriksson, Flight 3 (1-1)
Round 1: def. MacArthur Swain and Ahmed El Kassas, TWU, 8-7 (7-5)
Round 2: lost to Ethan Ruppanner and Ivan Nikolovski, TU, W/O (Injury)
