UT Tyler delivered a fatal blow April 16-17 to the playoff hopes of both UTD tennis teams with hard-fought victories over the Comet men and women.
The men fell 5-1 in a rain-shortened contest and the women lost 5-4 to end UTD’s bid for inclusion in the American Southwest Conference (ASC) championships.
Senior No. 1 seed Kevin Durten rallied for a tie-breaking win and all three doubles teams played close matches, but ultimately UT Tyler proved too strong.
Men’s Head Coach Jeremy Morse did not dwell on the loss, but looked ahead to the remaining contests on the schedule.
“We have two more matches on the men’s side and our goal is to get prepared for those matches and finish the season with two wins,” Morse said.
Senior top seed Andrea Hidalgo and sophomore No. 6 seed Cassidy Acuff netted UTD’s only singles victories of the day. The Comets needed to sweep their three doubles matches to claim the last berth in the ASC tournament, but lost 7-9 in a heartbreaker.
On April 3, the Comets laid waste to the visiting Ozarks.
The men notched a perfect 7-0 victory, and the women tallied a 5-4 win.
The men – on cruise control for most of the match – rolled unthreatened to their fourth ASC victory of the year.
The Lady Comets relied on clutch doubles play from Hidalgo, senior Alexis McCubbin, sophomore Natalie Taylor and freshman Heather Seals to turn back the Ozarks.
Morse said he believes next year UTD will be competitive enough to vie for a spot in the ASC tournament.
“We have several quality high school players interested in coming here, and we have three strong freshmen returning next year,” Morse said.
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