ARLINGTON, Texas– The No. 1 seeded UT Arlington men's tennis team (16-7) took down No. 2 Abilene Christian 4-0 at the Arlington Tennis Center on Saturday to claim the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) tournament championship. The victory concludes a dominant conference season for the Mavs, who not only went undefeated in WAC regular season play, but swept both matches in this weekend's tournament.
 
UTA, which advances to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 with the win, will find out their first-round opponent during Monday night's 5:30 p.m. CT selection show. Details on a watch party will be released on Sunday. A WAC all-tournament team will also be released by the conference early next week.

For head coach Diego Benitez, this will be the fifth time he has taken the UT Arlington men's or women's tennis program to the NCAA Tournament with previous trips in 2016 (men), 2011 (women), 2009 (women) and 2006 (men).

"It's amazing. I'm so proud of the kids," Benitez said. "They play with so much heart and determination. We keep adding our contributions to a great school. We have a great administration that supports us all the way, and I think we have great leaders, Anton being one of them. He's amazing. He's such a great player, a great person. He's always taking care of everybody on the team and leading them."
 
The Mavericks started off their championship match strong, winning two doubles points to ensure the early lead.
 
Lachlan Robertson and Joan Torres Espinosa were the first team off, earning a strong victory over Savan Chhabra and Ethan Scribner on Court 3. The pair dropped only two games after breaking early in the set to complete the 6-2 victory.
 
Court 2 concluded doubles play, with Santiago Giamichelle and Dante Teramo clinching the early advantage for the Mavericks. The match stayed close until Giamichelle and Teramo held serve then broke to go up 5-3 over Mihaly Deli and Daniel Morozov. The First Team All-WAC pair served out the match to complete the 6-3 victory and earn their fourth consecutive win.
   
Singles play followed in a similar manner, with the Mavericks winning in straight sets to lock down the WAC tournament title.
 
Espinosa earned the first singles victory, defeating Deli on Court 6. He played a dominant first set, winning 6-0, then followed up with a strong 6-2 performance in the second.
 
WAC Freshman of the Year Giamichelle was next to add a point for the Mavericks, taking down Morozov on Court 2. The first set stayed close until Giamichelle won the final three games for a 6-3 victory. He then won the first three games in the next set before allowing Morozov two games, but then he regrouped and won the final three for the 6-2 win.
 
Giamichelle's win turned almost all eyes at the Arlington Tennis Center to Court 1, where Anton Shepp had a chance to clinch the match against the WAC Player of the Year, Dario Kmet. The pair played a close first set, with Shepp taking the 6-4 victory with an ace. He carried the momentum into the second set, earning a 4-1 lead. Kmet stayed alive one more game before Shepp closed out the match 6-2. It marked his first victory of the season over Kmet, who had won a three-set regular season battle over Shepp.
 
As the Mavericks had already earned four wins to clinch the match, Courts 3, 4 and 5 went unfinished. Solano Caffarena was down one set and 5-4 to Cesar Barranquero on 3. Robertson was down one set and up 3-0 in the second against Chhabra on 4. Teramo was up one set and tied at 3-3 to Benjamin McDonald on 6.
 

UT Arlington 4, Abilene Christian 0
Singles
1. Anton Shepp (UTA) def. Dario Kmet (ACU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Santiago Giamichelle (UTA) def. Daniel Morozov (ACU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Unfinished
4. Unfinished
5. Unfinished
6. Joan Torres Espinosa (UTA) def. Mihaly Deli (ACU) 6-0, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6, 2, 1
 
Doubles
1. Unfinished
2. Santiago Giamichelle/Dante Teramo (UTA) def. Mihaly Deli/Daniel Morozov (ACU) 6-3
3. Lachlan Robertson/Joan Torres Espinosa (UTA) def. Savan Chhabra/Ethan Scribner (ACU) 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2
 
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