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3
Midwestern State MSU (15-7)
4
Winner UT Tyler UTT (22-2)
Midwestern State MSU
(15-7)
3
Final
4
UT Tyler UTT
(22-2)
Winner
Jose Marquez
Trey Reed / Midwestern State University

Match Recap: Men's Tennis | | Trey Reed / MSU Athletic Communications

Mustangs bow to No. 7 UT Tyler in NCAA D2 Round of 32

TYLER, Texas -- Midwestern State just didn't have enough magic left to knock off No. 7-ranked UT Tyler in the NCAA Division II Round of 32 Saturday afternoon at the Summers Tennis Center.

Just a week after using a pair of stunning comebacks in doubles and Stephen Slocombe's rousing rebound to win at No. 3 singles after falling behind by five games in the deciding set, the Mustangs appeared to be on the verge of knocking off the Patriots once again.

But UT Tyler managed to rally for a 4-3 win to advance to the NCAA Division II Championships set for May 20-24 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

The Mustangs bounced back to win tiebreakers at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions to claim the doubles point after UT Tyler's Daniil Felker and Carel Wessel took a 6-2 win over Stephen Slocombe and Filip Vacula at the No. 1 position.

Midwestern State's Bruno Sanchez and Justin Van Amerongen dominated for a 7-1 tie breaking win over Artiom Dorofeev and Malo Poulesquen at No. 2 before Juan David Duque and Killian Guillou edged past Job Jepelj and Trevor Short, 8-6, in a tiebreaker at No. 3.

Dorofeev put the Patriots on the board, leveling the match at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Vacula at No. 1.

But within a minutes, MSU rolled out to a 3-1 lead after Guillou downed Poulesquen 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5, and Jose Marquez defeated Felker 6-3, 7-5 at No. 4.

Midwestern State appeared to be in great position with Sanchez and Slocombe taking the opening sets at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

But Despodev rallied to take a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Slocombe, while Wessel gritted his way to take the next two sets over Sanchez in tiebreakers, winning 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3).

Just as a week before, the deciding match came to the No. 6 match up between Duque and UT Tyler's Jordi Garcia Portell.

But Portell would get the better of the two by edging Duque 7-5 in the deciding set after the two exchanged tiebreakers in the opening two.

Midwestern State closed the season at 15-7 and reached NCAA Division II postseason play for the 12th consecutive year.
  
-- MSUMustangs.com --
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