Men's Tennis | 3/1/2015 5:12:00 PM
Stockton, Calif.- USF men's tennis claims the UOP invitational after defeating No. 45 New Mexico in the finals, 4-3.
"This was an amazing tournament for our program as we had to really dig deep against tough teams," said head coach
Pablo Pires de Almeida. "New Mexico is a proven tough team and they always battle so hard. The guys really came together and earned this win on and off the court with amazing spirit. Thanks to Ryan Redondo and all who made this tournament special for us!"
The Lobos took the first point after defeating both number 1 and number 2 doubles. However,
Vasco Valverde and
Thomas Takemoto didn't give them the chance to take all three matches when they defeated Jorge Escutia and Mitchell McDaniels 7-5 after being down 5-2 in the match.
Down 1-0,
Bernardo Saraiva was the first match off the court defeating Hayden Sabatka in two sets, 6-2, 6-3. Saraiva remains undefeated in singles play with a record of 8-0 and winning in convincing fashion.
UNM took sixth singles to regain the lead at 2-1 against USF. Valverde won in two straight sets 6-4, 6-4, against James Hignett, to give the Dons the extra push they needed to tie up the match 2-2.
James Tallman won a close second set 7-6 (2) after being down a 6-2 break against Rodolfo Jauregui to give USF their third point. However, New Mexico took second singles to even the match back out to 3-3.
The finals all came down to Takemoto who stepped up and dug deep in his three set match against Bart Van Leijsen to clinch out the win for the Dons 6-7, 6-0, 6-4.
The Dons will take to the court next in Santa Clara to face the Broncos at 3 p.m on March 4.
USF 4, No. 45 UNM 3 Singles | Order to Finish No. 1
Bernardo Saraiva (USF) def. Hayden Sabatka (UNM); 6-2, 6-3
No. 2 Mitchell McDaniels (UNM) def.
Nils Skajaa (USF); 7-5, 6-2
No. 3
James Tallman (USF) def. Rodolfo Jauregui (UNM); 6-2, 7-6 (2)
No. 4
Thomas Takemoto (USF) def. Bart Van Leijsen (UNM); 6-7, 6-0, 6-4
No. 5
Vasco Valverde (USF) def. James Hignett (UNM); 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 Jorge Escutia (UNM) def.
Johan Samuelsson (USF); 6-1, 6-2
Doubles | Order to Finish No. 1 Sabatka/Van Leitsen (UNM) def. #31 Saraiva/Skajaa (USF); def. 6-4
No. 2 Hignett/Ge (UNM) def. Brockstedt/Santiago (USF); 7-5
No. 3 Valverde/Takemoto (USF) def. Escutia/McDaniels (USF); 7-5
