HOUSTON – The No. 41 UTSA men's tennis team (17-5) begins its quest for its second Conference UTSA title on Saturday, April 22 at the C-USA Championships versus third-seeded Florida Atlantic. The Roadrunners will square off with the 59th-ranked Owls for the second time this season at 12:00 p.m. at Rice's George R. Brown Tennis Center.
Using an added match this week to stay fresh heading into the league tournament, UTSA finished the regular season with 17 wins, tying the 2015 team for the third-most season wins in program history. As it turns out, the 2015 team was the last C-USA Champion from UTSA and also the most recent NCAA Championships qualifier.
That 2015 squad defeated top-seeded Rice, 4-2, to win the Roadrunners' first C-USA tournament title and UTSA's fourth program conference tournament title – following Southland Conference crowns for teams in 2002, 2010 and 2012.
With the added-date victory over UT Rio Grande Valley on April 18, UTSA finished the regular season with a 77.2 winning percentage as a team, earning five victories over ranked opponents and claiming six sweeps. In singles, the Roadrunners boast a 68-42 (.618) record and are 32-24 (.571) in doubles. Leading the way in solo play is McAllen, Texas native and Tyler JC transfer Alan Magadan, racking up a 14-6 singles record in his first season at UTSA while playing mostly on court two. Taking up court five, Tuzla, Bosnia sophomore Danijal Muminovic is 12-6 on the year - earning the initial UTSA singles point in four matches, while clinching match points in two others.
On the doubles courts, Oporto, Portugal sophomore Tomás Pinho has taken over the team wins lead with a 12-7 record, largely on court two with Trujillo, Peru senior Sebastian Rodriguez – together the pair are 8-1 this season. Sporting an 8-2 record when playing with Libson, Portugal sophomore Tiago Torres, Magadan provides first court leadership in doubles play as well.
In addition, when Magadan and Rodriguez pair up, they're currently ranked 28th in the national ITA standings, an honor kicked off by the duo's historic run to the fall ITA Texas Region Championship and a national quarterfinal appearance.
In their last trip to these courts, the Roadrunners dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to No. 71 Rice, decided on the tiebreak point of the third set on the final singles court. The loss snapped an NCAA-leading 14-match win streak and dealt UTSA it's first loss since Feb. 12.
Semifinal Opposition: FAU
The Roadrunners will take on the FAU Owls in the second round. Ranked 59th nationally, FAU is 13-10 after defeating Charlotte in a 4-0 sweep during Friday's C-USA opening round. This will be the second meeting between the Owls and Roadrunners this season, as UTSA bested the then 53rd-ranked Owls in San Antonio, 4-2, on Feb. 24.
Pacing the Owls in solo action, senior Hunter Robbins is 10-4 in duals across the lower three courts, while junior Joao Graco is 10-6. In doubles, senior Kevin Huempfner is 13-5 on the top court, going 8-2 when partnered with senior Nicholas Acevedo.
Prior to the victory earlier this season, UTSA had lost all four of the previous meetings with the Owls.
Keeping up with the Championships
All matches at the George R. Brown Tennis Center are streamed live and have up-to-date game, set and match scores. For more information about the Conference USA Championships, please visit the Championships Central website. To watch live stream or scoring, please visit the Rice Court Coverage page.
Up Next
The semifinal winner between UTSA and FAU will move on to the Conference USA Championship Final, set to be played on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. in a winner-take-all match for the trophy. The winner of the C-USA tournament will earn an automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships. A top 50 ranking is also a key factor in determining the at-large qualifiers for the NCAA postseason. The NCAA Men's Tennis Championships Selection Show will stream live on NCAA.com on May 1 at 5:30 p.m.
-UTSA-
