Nov. 3, 2014 By Hannah Altheide | UTAMavs.com
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington men and women's tennis wrapped up their fall seasons this past weekend by bringing home five titles and several more victories.
The women found success at the Wild West Shootout in North Texas nearly sweeping the tournament, winning four out of five titles against a high level of competition.
Elizabeth Thoms began the success after winning her singles draw finals Sunday afternoon against University of Colorado's Tina Bokhua 6-1, 6-4. Thoms also won the doubles draw when she paired up with Ekaterina Tugarinova. It was an all UTA final Sunday when they faced their teammates Astrid Gehre and Angeles de los Rios. After a hard-fought match Thoms and Tugarinova came up on top winning 8-7.
Although Gehre came up short in doubles play, she dominated her singles draw defeating Tiffany Tran from Air Force 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals. Gehre then went on to face North Texas' Alexis Thoma in the finals and came up on top winning 6-4, 6-3.
Jessica Birowski and Augustina Serio finished off the weekend by winning their doubles draw and bringing home the fourth title. They met up with Ana Sofia Cordero and Augustina Valenzuela from North Texas in the finals and won the title 8-4.
"Winning titles is hard to do whether it is the spring or the fall," UTA coach Diego Benitez, "so I am very happy that we ended the fall season by bringing home four titles."
Although the men did not dominate the 3rd Annual FGCU Fall Invitational in Fort Meyers, Florida this weekend they did bring home a singles title and made it to the doubles final.
Daniel Armengol had a great weekend in Fort Meyers winning his singles title against Barry University's Fabian Pronnet 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. It was a tough match, but Armengol fought through and came up victorious.
"It's great to see our men compete against highly competitive players, Armengol had a great weekend and I am pleased with the way he competed," Benitez said.
Armengol later teamed up with Carlos Arbiza in doubles play where they found more success making it all the way to the final match. After defeating St. Leo's Bruno Sisti and Egor Panyushkin in the semifinals 8-7 (4), they went on to face Lucas Vaz and Ricky Ventura from host team FGCU in the final match. After a grueling match Armengol and Arbiza claimed second place losing 8-4.
"After a great fall season our team is very focused and excited about what's coming in the spring," said Benitez, "more than anything they are believing what we are capable of."
The Mavericks will continue to practice and get in the best shape possible this fall and will continue match play in the spring. ​