MARSHALL, Texas – What a day for the East Texas Baptist University men's tennis program as they captured their first-ever American Southwest Conference East Division Championship. ETBU defeated the University of Texas Dallas for the first time in program history, 5-4, on the final match of the day to win the East Division. The Tigers are now 14-5 and finish at 4-0 in the ASC East Division.
The win over UTD will be cherished as it is the last time ETBU will face the Comets in the ASC East as they move to NCAA Division II next year. This 5-4 victory is the closest match vs. the Comets as the last one came in 2018, 6-3. This is the 13
th season for ETBU after the program was started in 2012 and
Drew Lambert is in his third season as head coach. The 14 wins continues to be a program best as ETBU's historic season continues. They will be the no. 1 seed from the East Division in the upcoming ASC Championship Tournament hosted by Concordia University Texas.
Coming down to singles match no.2,
Max Karseno came from behind and won the third set for the team win. He fell in the first set, 4-6, but fought back for a 7-6 (7-1) win in the second set and then blanked Nathan Qi, 6-0, in the third set for the win.
ETBU started off with a 3-0 lead in doubles play.
Max Karseno and
Sam Black cruised to an 8-3 win at no. 1. Jacob Daneill and Van Zyl won the no. 2 match, 8-4.
Slade Austin and
Zachary Couch then battled for the no. 3 win, 8-6.
UTD came storing back in singles play winning the no. 1 match, 6-3, 6-3, no. 3 match, 6-0, 6-0, no. 4 match, 6-2, 6-2, and no. 5 match, 6-0, 6-1, to take a 4-3 lead.
Erick Van Zyl won a third-set tie breaker, 7-5, to give ETBU their fourth team point at no. 6 singles. He won the first set, 6-3, over Jed De Luna but then fell in set two, 2-6, before bouncing back for the win in the tie breaking set. Karseno then won the match with the no. 2 singles win in a tie breaker, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0.
ETBU will play next in the ASC Championship Tournament on May 2-4 in Austin, Texas.
