THE RUNDOWN
SAN ANTONIO – The 23rd-ranked MSU Texas men's tennis team capitalized off its early momentum of taking three doubles matches to a 7-2 win over 22nd-ranked St. Mary's on Saturday at Rohrbach Stadium in San Antonio.
 
The Mustangs improve to 3-1 on the young season, taking down their first NCAA DII opponent of the year.
 
In doubles, MSU's tandem of Dillon Pineda and Nolan McCaig secured a huge upset, knocking off St. Mary's third-ranked team of Jeremiah Gonzalez and Bojan Popovic, 8-3 at the No. 1 line to get things started. The duo of Alex Martinez Roca and Angel Palacios upended the Rattler's 25^th-ranked pair of Saisaurav Konakanchi and James Weatherhead, 8-4, at No. 3 before the pair of Vasudev Vijayaraman and Denney Norrie extended the MSU lead to 3-o with an 8-6 win over Jose Antelo and Brendan Brown at No. 2.

The results proved key as the Mustangs swept a St. Mary's squad which boasted three of the top five doubles tandems in the ITA's first South Central Region rankings release.
 
Midwestern State rode the momentum from doubles to first set wins on five-of-six singles courts. Freshman Nolan McCaig extended the lead to 4-0 for the Mustangs with a straight-sets win over Felix Hollaway, 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 5 spot before sophomore Angel Palacios clinched MSU's 16th consecutive victory over the Rattlers, downing Alex Gee, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4. Junior Dillon Pineda picked up his first singles win of the spring, ousting Popovic, 6-4, 7-5 at the No. 2 line. Freshman Alex Martinez Roca improved to 4-0 on the year, dropping Weatherhead, 6-2, 0-6, 6-0 at No. 6.
 
The Rattlers got on the board, claiming the final two singles matches. Sophomore Joshua Sundaram and senior Vasudev Vijayaraman were each tripped up in tightly contested three-set matches.

BOX SCORE
#23 Midwestern State (3-1) def. #22 St. Mary's (5-2), 7-2
Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 | 12 p.m.
San Antonio, Texas
Rohrbach Stadium
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Dillon Pineda/Nolan McCaig (MSU) def. #3 Jeremiah Gonzalez/Bojan Popovic (StMU) 8-3
No. 2 – Vasudev Vijayaraman/Denney Norrie (MSU) def. Jose Antelo/Brendan Brown (StMU) 8-6
No. 3 – Alex Martinez Roca/Angel Palacios (MSU) def. #25 Saisaurav Konakanchi/James Weatherhead (StMU) 8-4
 
Singles
No. 1 – Jeremiah Gonzalez (StMU) def. Vasudev Vijayaraman (MSU) 6-7 (4), 7-5, 10-8
No. 2 – Dillon Pineda (MSU) def. Bojan Popovic (StMU) 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 – Jose Antelo (StMU) def. Joshua Sundaram (MSU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
No. 4 – Angel Palacios (MSU) def. Alex Gee (StMU) 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 – Nolan McCaig (MSU) def. Felix Hollaway (StMU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 6 – Alex Martinez Roca (MSU) def. James Weatherhead (StMU) 6-2, 0-6, 6-2
 
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2); Singles (5, 4, 2, 6, 3, 1)

UP NEXT
Midwestern State is back in action on Thursday, March 1 against Southwest Baptist. First serve is set for 2 p.m. at the MSU Tennis Center.