THE RUNDOWN
ARLINGTON – The Midwestern State men's tennis team came up just shy against NCAA Division I UT Arlington on Saturday, dropping a hard-fought 4-3 decision on the road to the Mavericks.
 
MSU falls to 1-1 on the season after the setback.
 
The Mustangs claimed the doubles point despite dropping the first match of the afternoon. After MSU's tandem of Angel Palacios and Joshua Sundaram were tripped up by Andre Russo and Eduard Simo, 6-2, at No. 3, the Mustang's pair of Vasudev Vijayaraman and Denney Norrie ousted Guanarteme Nuez and Abhishek Bostola, 6-3, at No. 2 doubles to even pairs play at one. Dillon Pineda and Nolan McCaig fought off Mauricio Del Rio and Enrique Pardo at the No. 1 spot, 6-4 to give MSU a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Mavericks stormed back, taking the first three singles court matches to take a 3-1 lead. Sophomore Angel Palacios fell to Pardo, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 2 before Vijayaraman and McCaig were bested by Nuez and Del Rio at the one and three lines, respectively.
 
MSU rallied to tie the match at three-all behind freshmen Jean Muniz and Alex Martinez Roca. Muniz defeated Simo, 7-5, 6-4, in a tightly contested matchup at the No. 4 line and Roca rallied in the third set to knock off Bostola, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 5.
 
With the match on the line, sophomore Denney Norrie came up just shy at No. 6, taking Russo to three sets, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

BOX SCORE
Doubles
No. 1 – Dillon Pineda/Nolan McCaig (MSU) def. Mauricio Del Rio/Enrique Pardo (UTA) 6-4
No. 2 – Vasudev Vijayaraman/Denney Norrie (MSU) def. Guanarteme Nuez/Abhishek Bostola (UTA) 6-3
No. 3 – Andre Russo/Eduard Simo (UTA) def. Angel Palacios/Joshua Sundaram (MSU) 6-2
 
Singles
No. 1 – Guanarteme Nuez (UTA) def. Vasudev Vijayaraman (MSU) 6-3, 6-3
No. 2 – Enrique Pardo (UTA) def. Angel Palacios (MSU) 6-0, 6-3
No. 3 – Mauricio Del Rio (UTA) def. Nolan McCaig (MSU) 6-2, 7-5
No. 4 – Jean Muniz (MSU) def. Eduard Simo (UTA) 7-5, 6-4
No. 5 – Alex Martinez Roca (MSU) def. Abhishek Bostola (UTA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
No. 6 – Andre Russo (UTA) def. Denney Norrie (MSU) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
 
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6)

UP NEXT
Midwestern State is back in action on Friday, Feb. 16 against Laredo Community College in San Antonio. First serve is set for noon.