SEATTLE– The UT Arlington men's tennis team (10-7, 4-0 WAC) secured the outright championship of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular season after a 5-2 defeat of Seattle University at the Amy Yee Tennis Center on Sunday.
 
This marks their second consecutive season as outright WAC champions after going undefeated (5-0) in the 2023 season as well. They look to defend their WAC tournament title and secure their second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament.
 
The Redhawks started off with the lead in the match as they clinched the doubles point on two courts.
 
Solano Caffarena and Pedro Sasso took their second defeat as a team on Court 1, where they fell to Veselin Kiselkov and Jun Sasagawa. The 6-3 loss ends their regular season with a 2-1 WAC record and 2-2 overall record.
 
Court 2 took a loss as Joan Torres Espinosa and Meethre Barot dropped their match against Michael Frank and Julian Worn. The Redhawks allowed Espinosa and Barot only two games before closing out the set 6-2. This marks Espinosa and Barot's first loss as a pair as they now hold a 1-1 overall and WAC record.
 
The Mavs earned one doubles win on Court 3, where Dante Teramo and Andres Medus secured a strong 6-2 victory over Dario Ristovski and Filip Stipic. The win gives the pair their third win of the season as they remain undefeated. Overall, they sit at 3-0 on the season and in WAC play.
 
In singles action, the Mavs responded to the doubles loss by securing wins on all but one court.
 
No. 88 Espinosa bounced back from his first dual match loss against UTRGV with a strong straight set win on Court 1. Both sets were close, with Espinosa closing out the two by a break of serve. In the first set, he secured a strong 6-4 win over Sasagawa then followed up with a 7-5 performance in the second set. The win marks his tenth of the spring and puts him at 15-3 overall and 3-1 in WAC play.
 
On Court 2, Teramo evened his WAC record as he earned a solid win in two sets over Stipic. Teramo allowed Stipic only two games in the first set, going up 6-2 in the match. The second set followed in a similar fashion as Teramo dropped only three games to close out 6-3. The victory puts Teramo at 13-11 overall and 2-2 in WAC play.
 
Graduate senior Caffarena marked his third consecutive win on Court 3 in a tight battle over Worn. Caffarena came out strong to take the first set, dropping only three games for the 6-3 lead. Worn responded in the second set with a 6-3 win of his own to even the score. The deciding set came down to two games, where Caffarena powered through to close out 6-4. The victory puts him at 3-1 in WAC play and marks his fifth win overall.
 
Court 4 saw another three-set battle, where freshman Barot overcame Frank to move to remain undefeated in WAC play. Frank gained three games in the first set, but Barot was able to go up 6-3. In the second set, the score stayed close as Frank battled to even the sets with a tiebreaker win 7-6 (5). In the final set, Barot finished off strong with a mirror of the first set's score, 6-3. He heads into the WAC tournament with a 10-5 overall record and 4-0 in regular season play.
 
Medus moved his winning streak to six as he dropped only two games to Yu-Han Hsieh on Court 5. Hsieh was only able to win two games in the first set before Medus took over to gain the 6-2 lead. He did not drop another game as he followed up with an even stronger 6-0 performance in the second set. The win adds to Medus' impressive first year as he moves to 11-4 overall and 4-0 in WAC play.
 
The Redhawks earned a singles win on Court 6 as Sasso was forced to default due to a scheduling conflict. Sasso was up 6-4 over Kiselkov and down 1-2 in the second set before the match was called.
 
The Mavericks are set for the WAC Tournament as they hold the No. 1 seed for the second year in a row. As they have earned a bye for the first round, they will begin play on Friday at 9 a.m. with the finals set for Saturday at the same time at the HEB Tennis Center at Pendleton Park in Harlingen, Texas.
 
For their first match, the Mavericks will take on the winner between No. 4 Seattle and No. 5 UT Rio Grande Valley. If they win their semifinal match, they will face either No. 2 Grand Canyon or No. 3 Abilene Christian in the finals.
 
UTA 5, SU 2
Doubles

1. Veselin Kiselkov/ Jun Sasagawa (SU) def. Solano Caffarena/ Pedro Sasso (UTA) 6-3
2. Michael Frank/ Julian Worn (SU) def. Joan Torres Espinosa/ Meethre Barot (UTA) 6-2
3. Dante Teramo/ Andres Medus (UTA) def. Dario Ristovski/ Filip Stipic (SU) 6-2

Singles

1. No. 88 Joan Torres Espinosa (UTA) def. Jun Sasagawa (SU) 6-4, 7-5
2. Dante Teramo (UTA) def. Filip Stipic (SU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Solano Caffarena (UTA) def. Julian Worn (SU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
4. Meethre Barot (UTA) def. Michael Frank (SU) 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3
5. Andres Medus (UTA) def. Yu-Han Hsieh (SU) 6-2, 6-0
6. Veselin Kiselkov (SU) def. Pedro Sasso (UTA) 4-6, 2-1 WD

   
 
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