Final Stats

By Michael Eldridge | @DFWSportsMike

ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington men's tennis ended a three-match trip through Florida on a positive note, defeating UCF on Sunday at the UCF Tennis Complex.

Coming up short in tough battles against No. 74 Florida Gulf Coast and Florida Atlantic, the Mavericks (7-5) found their stride in a 4-0 decision against the Knights (3-4). The win ended UCF's three-match winning streak that included consecutive wins against nationally ranked opponents.

"We played three very competitive matches during this trip," UT Arlington coach Diego Benitez said. "That is exactly what we needed. We needed to go on the road and play really good competition that would challenge us. Unfortunately the first two matches didn't go our way and we felt that we just ran out of time in those matches.

"Overall we played better each day and the last day we played the best against Central Florida, who on paper was maybe the best out of the three and they had wins against the teams we lost too. It was a good way to end the trip on a high note."

The doubles point did not come easy against the Knights. UTA battled its way through three closely contested matches to earn the point. It was a pair of 6-4 decisions in the Mavs' favor to put UTA ahead. Wins came from the teams of Pablo Colvee and Carlos Arbiza as well as Mario Muniesa and Guanarteme Nuez. Jhonathan Gonzalez and Daniel Armengol left their match unfinished down 6-5.

The Mavericks breezed to a 3-0 lead as Nuez and Armengol each defeated their opponent in two sets. Nuez won 6-0, 6-2, while Armengol went 6-1, 6-2.

The final point was tougher to pick up as all four of the remaining matches went into three sets. It was the senior that stepped in to serve up the win.

Arbiza recovered from a second-set defeat to down his opponent 6-4 in the third to clinch the match.

"We are happy about the challenging matches that we faced and this is exactly what we needed to make us stronger and continue our momentum into the season," Benitez said.