GEORGETOWN - The Southwestern University men's tennis team closed their regular season on a high note as they earned an upset win over No. 14 Trinity before closing with a 9-0 win over McMurry on Saturday afternoon at the Marvin D. Henderson Tennis Courts.
It all started at doubles as Southwestern took two out of three courts to take a 2-1 advantage. Senior David Strong and sophomore Jeremy Wilson earned an 8-2 win at three doubles while junior Alonso Fernandez and sophomore Dean Dulthummon clinched the doubles advantage iwth an 8-4 win at two doubles.
"The change in doubles teams we made last week paid off for us to go up 2-1," said Head Coach Billy Porter.
In singles, Trinity came storming back to take a 4-2 lead as they got wins at three, four, and five singles. Sophomore Alexis Dimanche got a key win at one singles as he won a three set thriller, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 to inch the Pirates closer.
"Alexis remained composed to gut out a huge win over a higher ranked player and keep us alive," said Porter.
Fernandez carried over his strong play in doubles to the singles court as he rolled to a 6-2, 6-4 win at six singles. That momentum carried over to two singles. With the match tied at four and moving to a third set tiebreaker, Dulthummon came through and clinch the upset, winning 7-5, 3-6, 7-6.
"Alonso's win gave Dean just enough of a boost to carry him through that third set tiebreak to clinch the upset," said Porter.
Despite the upset, the Pirates had to regroup after all the emotion and energy spent against their rivals and take on the McMurry War Hawks.
In doubles, Southwestern had no issue as they rolled to a 3-0 lead. Strong and Wilson earned an 8-3 win at three doubles followed by Dulthummon and Fernandez earned an 8-3 win of their own at two doubles. Dimanche and senior Grant Gideon closed doubles with an 8-3 win at one doubles.
"We came out guns blazing in doubles and was something we emphasized after the emotional win this morning," said Porter.
Dulthummon opened singles up with a 6-0, 6-2 win at two singles followed by a 6-0, 6-1 win by Gideon at three singles. Wilson got a 6-0, 6-1 win while Dimanche got a 6-3, 6-3 win at one singles. Sophomore Tyler Norman earned a 3-6, 6-0, 10-3 win at four singles while Fernandez closed it out with a 6-1, 6-0 win at six singles.
"Jeremy needed a win and got on the board with a convincing win," said Porter. "He adjusted throughout the match which really helped him get the win."
For Southwestern, it was their final regular season matches of the season and their final home games of the year. They sent three seniors out with a pair of huge victories.
"So proud of our seniors Grant, David and AJ to get a win for their final home match," said Porter.
Southwestern concludes a great regular season at 12-7 and will head to Colorado Springs on Friday to compete at the SCAC Championships.