UMKC men’s tennis jumped out early and never looked back on Saturday at the Plaza Tennis Center, taking a 5-2 victory over UTRGV.
UMKC (12-7, 3-1 WAC) rolled past the Vaqueros in doubles play, winning all three matches en route to the 1-0 lead.
The Roos didn’t let up when it came to singles, and quickly secured the victory with straight set wins from Uldis Gaismins at No. 3, Andrey Smirnov at No. 2, and Amaury Navette at No. 6, in that order.
The Vaqueros cut it to 4-1 after a win at No. 4, but Airam Castellano made it 5-1, winning 11 straight games after being down 5-2 in the first set to 2015 WAC Player of the Year Juan Cruz Soria. He ended up winning 7-5, 6-0, and moving to 4-0 in conference play.
UMKC will face Grand Canyon on Sunday, with a chance to share the WAC regular season title with a win.
UMKC 5, UT Rio Grande Valley 2
4/9/2016 at Kansas City, Mo. (Plaza Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Airam Castellano (UMKC) def. Juan Cruz Soria (UTRGV) 7-5, 6-0
2. Andrey Smirnov (UMKC) def. Ethan Ammon (UTRGV) 6-0, 6-1
3. Uldis Gaismins (UMKC) def. Koby Jansen (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-0
4. Elliot Johnstone (UTRGV) def. Mike Psarros (UMKC) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 10-2
5. Yehonatan Kaufman (UTRGV) def. Vinh Pham (UMKC) 7-6 (11-9), 6-7 (8-10), 11-9
6. Amaury Navette (UMKC) def. Cosme Jubera (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-1