ARLINGTON- The UT Arlington men's tennis team (5-3) defeated Oral Roberts University 4-3 in a tight match on Friday afternoon.

The Mavericks started out strong and quickly earned the doubles point. Miguel Cabrera and Anton Shepp won first on Court 2, 6-3. Habib Stambouli and Ricardo Alban were next with another 6-3 win on Court 3, clinching the doubles point for the Mavericks to give UTA an early  1-0 advantage.

Daichi Akiyoshi was the first to pull out a singles win on Court 4, with a score of 6-4, 6-3. Maks Lukman quickly followed on Court 5 with the same score, putting UTA up 3-0 in the match.

The Mavericks dropped the next three points in close matches on Courts 1, 2, and 3. Miguel Cabrera fell 5-7, 1-6 at the No. 3 spot, and Alan Sau Franco lost 2-6, 4-6 at No. 1. Anton Shepp fought hard to come back after a 1-6 deficit in the first set, but ultimately came up short 6-7 in the second set at No. 2.

With UTA and ORU tied 3-3 for the match, it came down to Habib Stambouli on Court 6 to win the match. After being down 0-3 in the first set, Stambouli came back and won in a tiebreaker 7-6. Both players stayed on-serve in the second set, but Stambouli triumphed and won 7-6, clinching the match for the Mavericks.

The Mavericks will be back at the UTA Tennis Center on Sunday, February 20 with a double header against Southeastern Oklahoma State and Cameron beginning at 2 pm.

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