PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – The UT Arlington men's tennis team upset the third-seeded Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in the Sun Belt Conference Quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon, 4-2, to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.
The Mavericks came from behind in doubles competition to take an early 1-0 advantage over the Cajuns. Louisiana jumped out early as Kacper Dworak and Alejandro Sanchez Gonzalez (LA) defeated
Anton Shepp and
Miguel Cabrera (UTA) to begin doubles play, 6-3.
Maks Lukman and
Daichi Akiyoshi even the score with a 6-4 win on court three.
With the doubles point tied,
Solano Caffarena and
Alan Sau Franco were trailing 4-5, but the Maverick tandem was able to win three straight points to win their match 7-5 and clinch the doubles victory for UTA.
The Cajuns even the match quickly, taking line six over
Daichi Akiyoshi in straight sets 6-2, 6-1. Louisiana followed up with a win on court five over
Maks Lukman to take the lead in the match, winning 6-3, 6-2 over the freshman.
Sau Franco evened the match back at two points with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Alejandro Sanchez Gonzalez on court one for his 20
th win of the season.
The Mavericks moved quickly to wrap up the match, as
Solano Caffarena took court four to put the Mavericks one point away from completing the upset.
Anton Shepp used a three-set match to clinch the victory for the Mavericks. After taking set one 6-3, he fell 2-6, but bounced back with a 6-3 win in set three to help the Mavericks advance.
With the win, UTA will move on to the SBC Semifinals where they will play #2 South Alabama tomorrow (April 15) at 1 p.m.
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