CLARKSVILLE, Ark. – LeTourneau University men's tennis team kept its train moving after rolling to a 7-2 victory at Ozarks Friday in the American Southwest Conference opener.
LETU (8-2, 1-0 ASC) has won six consecutive matches. It was the YellowJackets' first ASC match since 2019 after league play was wiped out a year ago.
Julian Lee won both of his matches in the top flights of both singles and doubles, and
Rodrigo Vazquez,
Patrick Baney and
Nathan Schmidt all picked up two victories themselves as the YellowJackets secured points in the top two pairs positions and the top five singles flights.
Lee and Baney coasted to an 8-1 win over Hikaru Yamaya and Nico Castells at No. 1 doubles. Vazquez and Schmidt were 8-5 winners over Parker Morey and TJ Saniseng at No. 2.
Lee outlasted Yamaya, 7-5, 6-4, at No. 1 singles. Vazquez came back to beat Aaron Gambrell, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, in a battle of fortitude at the No. 2 spot. Baney and Schmidt breezed to 6-0, 6-1 victories over Saniseng and Morey at the Nos. 3-4 positions, respectively.
Gavin Meyer gutted out a 1-6, 6-3, 13-11 comeback victory over Castells at No. 5 singles.
Ozarks picked up points at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles in the most-contested matches of the day. Dallas Elmore and Gambrell slid past
Miles Grubbs and
Jonah McGinty in the pairs match. Elmore got past Grubbs, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-4, in the singles battle.
Lee and Baney have won seven straight doubles matches together. Vazquez and Schmidt have won three in a row, and five of their last six. Schmidt has won his last six singles matches, and Baney his past five. Meyer has won three consecutive matches.
LeTourneau will play at Jacksonville College 5:30 p.m. Monday before hosting Southwestern University 3:30 p.m. next Saturday at Davis Tennis Courts.
