By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – An early advantage escaped the Tennessee Tech tennis team in the third-place match of the H-E-B Tournament of Champions, as the Golden Eagles fell in the final four singles tilts to UTSA en route to a 5-2 loss.
Tech (3-8) ends its shot in the longest-running tournament, in its 53rd consecutive year, with a 1-2 record after downing the host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first round, before dropping back-to-back matches to Troy and UTSA.
The Golden Eagles raced out to a quick beginning over the Roadrunners (7-2), seizing the doubles point with wins in the No. 1 and No. 3 matchups. The TTU tandem of Carlos Vicente and Gonzalo Garcia notched a 7-6 win over Juri Reckow and Joao Ceolin in the No. 1 position and the Tech pair of Wenceslao Albin and Rafael Tosetto carded a 7-5 victory against Javier Rodriguez and Javier Gonzalez in the No. 3 clash.
Kai Breitbach and Alan Sanson defeated Riku Kubota and Elias Grubert, 6-3, in the No. 2 slot.
Leading 1-0, the Golden Eagles split the first two singles matchups that concluded to jump ahead 2-1. Joao Ceolin deadlocked the score with a 6-0, 6-3 nod over Carlos Vicente in the No. 2 spot, but Tech responded immediately with a Rafael Tosetto 6-1, 7-6 win over Kai Breitbach in the No. 1 battle.
UTSA would go on to secure the final four singles matchups, first notching the match score at 2-2 with an Alan Sanson 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Lucca Silva. Juri Reckow followed suit with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Wenceslao Albin in the No. 4 position, before Javier Rodriguez picked up a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 triumph against Gonzalo Garcia in the No. 3 spot and Javier Gonzalez registered a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Fanis Kontopoulos in the No. 5 battle.
The Golden Eagles will set their sights on the first home affair of the spring, welcoming Lipscomb to Cookeville on Friday, Mar. 1. The match with the Bisons is slated for noon CT. Admission is free of charge.
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information