WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- No. 18-ranked Midwestern State won its seventh consecutive dual match and took a major step toward clinching the No. 1 seed in the Lone Star Conference Tournament with a 5-2 victory over No. 19-ranked UT Tyler at MSU Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs are 6-0 in the Lone Star Conference with two dual matches remaining in the regular season, and they improved their overall record to 11-7.
UT Tyler, which is 14-5 overall, falls to 5-2 in the LSC and remains winless at MSU Tennis Center in four visits. The Patriots had won their three previous encounters with Midwestern State, including a 4-1 victory in the South Central Regional last year.
Stephen Slocombe clinched the win for the Mustangs with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 triumph over Daniil Felker at No. 3 singles. Slocombe, a junior from Barbados, has won seven his last eight completed singles matches and improved to 10-6 for the season.
Slocombe and
Luis Diaz Argente clinched the doubles point for the Mustangs with a 6-4 victory over the 34th-ranked pairing of Felker and Egor Shestakov at No. 1 doubles. Slocombe and Diaz are ranked No. 4 in doubles and won their fourth straight match to improve their overall record to 11-4 this season.
Diaz improved to 3-2 against nationally ranked opponents with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 15-ranked Joaquin Bianchi. Diaz, who is ranked No. 45 among NCAA Division II singles players, was the first player to complete his singles match in the dual. The senior from Spain has won six of his last seven singles matches and improved to 5-1 against LSC opponents. In singles and doubles combined, Diaz was 4-0 during the final homestand of the season and did not drop a set.
No. 49-ranked
Germano Setti had a six-match winning streak snapped at No. 2 singles with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-7 (3) loss to No. 62-ranked Egor Shestakov. Setti and
Killian Guillou scored a 6-2 victory at No. 2 doubles for their sixth consecutive victory.
Guillou lost two tight sets at No. 4 singles to Carl Wessel, 5-7, 6-7 (2-7), but
Philip Kamara pulled out a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Jordi Garcia Portell to give the Mustangs a 3-1 lead in the dual match. Kamara improved to 10-5 for the season and 5-1 against conference opponents.
Charles Heffernan scored a 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7) victory over Yudai Watanabe at No. 6 singles and is 3-0 since returning to dual-match play after sitting out much of the season due to an injury.
Bruno Sanchez and
Justin Van Amerongen completed a doubles sweep for MSU by outlasting Forkane Lebdi and Garcia Portell at the No. 3 position, 7-6 (4).
Midwestern State travels to Arkansas-Fort Smith for a 1 p.m. dual on Friday and closes out the regular season on Saturday morning at Cameron.
The Mustangs are alone in first place with UT Permian Basin in second place at 6-1, and the Falcons only loss came against MSU on April 6.
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-- MSUMustangs.com --
