SAN ANTONIO – The No. 16 Midwestern State Mustangs dropped a pair of close matches Saturday as they fell at Division I Incarnate Word 4-3 and at Division II Trinity 5-4.
 
"We battled hard in both matches, but just came up a little short," said MSU Coach Scott Linn.
 
"UIW is built like a Division I team should be built, very strong in singles.   Trinity has so much tradition and will compete for a Division II national championship."
 
The Mustangs opened the day at the Mabry Tennis Center against Incarnate Word and the Division I scoring system of a lone point for the doubles series and a point each for singles play.
 
MSU grabbed the opening point by claiming two of the three doubles competitions.
 
The No. 2 duo of Kacper Boborykin and Kyle Davidson in a tiebreaker 6-5 (7-5) over Tucker Brown and Jair Assuncao, with the No. 3 pair of Jarrod Liston and Zack Santagate handing UIW's Brandon Davis and Johan Haerens a 6-1 loss.
 
The Cardinals' Leonard Ivic and Josip Smoljan won at No. 1 over Tomas Grejtak and Ramon Toyos 6-4.
 
MSU collected two wins in singles over UIW, with Toyos winning at No. 3 over Smoljan 6-3, 6-2, and Liston taking Antonio Cavazos at No. 6, 6-3, 6-2.
 
UIW controlled the match as Assuncao won at No. 1 over Boborykin 6-2, 6-5 (7-5), Ivic beat Davidson 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2, and Brown triumphed at No. 4 against Christopher Norrie 6-2, 6-4.
 
The clincher was at No. 5 as MSU's Grejtak and UIW's Davis battled through a three-set match, with Davis coming away with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win.
 
"Grejtak was down early, but came back to get the lead in the third," said Linn.  "He put himself in a position to win, but lost a tough one."
 
Less than 30 minutes after the four-and-a half hour match at UIW, the Mustangs were across the US 281 freeway at Trinity's Hill Tennis Center.
 
The Tigers, ranked eighth in Division III, got the upper hand in doubles.
 
MSU's No. 2 team of Boborykin/Davidson got one point beating TU's Greg Haugen and Jordan Mayer 8-3, but the Tigers got the other two.
 
Paxton Deuel and Nicolas Moreno won at No. 1 against Grejtak/Toyos 8-4, and TU's Charlie Curtis and Clayton Niess took down Liston/Santagate at No. 3, 8-5.
 
The teams split the singles matches for the Tigers to claim the match.
 
"It was really a war," said Linn of the match that lasted well over five hours.  "We competed well, they were just a little better."
 
Boborykin, ranked 46th in Division II, bettered Deuel, ranked fifth in Division III, at the No. 1 spot, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
 
MSU's Norrie won a three-setter at No. 4 against Moreno 6-7, 6-3, 6-0, while Grejtak claimed a win at No. 6 against Division III's 22nd ranked Curtis 6-0, 6-1.
 
But the Mustangs fell at No. 2 and No. 3 in three set affairs.
 
Trinity's Aaron Skinner outlasted MSU's Davidson, ranked 27th in Division II, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2.
 
TU's Haugen, ranked 34th in Division III, handed Toyos a 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 loss at No. 3.
 
At No. 5, Mayer downed the Mustangs Liston 6-4, 6-4.
 
"Our guys were right there the entire match," said Linn.  "They had the home court edge."
 
"We've got a ways to go, but all-in-all we fought hard and I'm appreciative of that," Linn added.
 
MSU hosts its home opener on Friday at the MSU Tennis Center with Metro State (Colo.) visiting for a noon match.