Men’s tennis defeat University of Texas at San Antonio 4-1

Thai Wilson, Contributing Writer

The VCU men’s tennis team defeated the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners today, 4-1.

Today’s win continued the Rams winning streak after defeating the United States Naval Academy on Saturday. 

VCU head coach Anthony Rossi said the team’s focus is on the moment. 

“We’re looking at one match at a time, so I didn’t even know that we had won six games in a row,” Rossi said. 

The first doubles matchup to finish was VCU sophomore Matisse Bobichon and freshman Joaquim Almeida versus UTSA freshman Maxim Groysman and sophomore Garrett Skelly. 

Almieda and Bobichon finished their set first with a score of 6-4 to give the advantage to VCU. The Rams only needed to win one more set to win the doubles point.

The second match to finish was VCU graduate student Iñigo Torre Martin and senior Rayane Stable versus UTSA freshman Tiago Torres and fifth-year student Javier Gonzalez. They won their set 6-3, which gave the Rams the doubles point to start off the game 1-0 in favor of the black and gold.

The third match of doubles was between ITA, Intercollegiate Tennis Association, ranked No. 38 junior Maxence Bertimon and senior Charles Bertimon versus fifth-year Joao Ceolin and sophomore Sebastian Rodriguez. This match went unfinished because VCU had already secured the doubles point. 

Even though his doubles match went unfinished, Charles Bertimon commented on the team’s ability to work together.

“We work a lot in doubles, even though it’s only one point for the team. It makes the difference in the end, and I think it is just that we keep the momentum when we finished our balls,” Charles Bertimon said.

In the singles matches for the Rams, VCU freshman Joaquim Almieda defeated UTSA sophomore Garrett Skelly in two sets to make the score 2-0 in favor of the Rams.

Sophomore Matisse Bobichon finished his game in two sets, beating his opponent fifth-year Javier Gonzalez. This added another tally to the black and gold’s score, making it 3-0. 

UTSA freshman Tiago Torres won his match against VCU Junior Maxence Bertimon in two straight sets to give the Roadrunners their first point of the game, making the score 3-1. Torres’ win kept the Roadrunners in the competition, as a score of 4-0 would have ended the game.

VCU head coach Anthony Rossi gave credit to UTSA’s players and said that they were a tough matchup.

“It’s a good team and they are ranked top 75 [in doubles]. So I am really happy with the way we competed,” Rossi said. 

The Roadrunners failed to win the three remaining matches to secure the win. 

While two of these matches went back and forth, the match between VCU graduate student Iñigo Torre Martin and UTSA sophomore Sebastian Rodriguez came to a close. Martin won 6-1 in the second set, which won the black and gold the point, making the score 4-1 and spiking any chance of the Roadrunners coming back.

Martin said he was happy about the team’s win, but looks to the future preparing for the upcoming matches.

“We’re just gonna go one day at a time. We started practice and the day we have matches we just give our best every single point and let’s see what’s the outcome.” Martin said. “That’s the only thing we can do.” 

The black and gold will travel to Jimmy Powell Tennis Center in Elon, North Carolina to face off against Elon University on April 8.