ABILENE, Texas — Lamar University defeated New Mexico State, 4-3, Saturday afternoon winning the 2022 Western Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship. The victory secured the first WAC regular season title for LU, and the first conference title for the men's tennis team since 2017 (Southland) and the seventh regular-season championship overall.
"As a team it feels so amazing to finish as WAC regular season champs," said head coach Scott Shankles. "It is a journey that requires total team effort from everyone involved. We are so appreciative of our fans during the season as they make the difference in matches. A lot of hard work went into this and I'm so proud of the guys. They deserve it. It's pretty awesome knowing we have a championship team."
LU got the first point from sweeping the doubles portion of the match. Daniel Sancho Arbizu and Juan Jose Rodriguez wound up winning a tiebreaker at 7-6 (7-2) in #1 Doubles. At #2 doubles, Max Amling and Fillippo Salsini were 6-3 winners while Martin Garcia-Ripoll took care of business at No. 3 doubles with a 6-1 triumph.
NMSU got three singles points with wins from No. 4-6 although Brandon Do did manage to force a tiebreaker at No. 6 singles before falling 2-6, 7-5, 6-7 (2-7). Keyed by a first set tiebreaker victory, Rodriguez earned a 7-6 (7-5) victory in two sets at No. 2 singles while Amling made it 3-3 at No. 3 singles 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.
It all came down to the final match at No. 1 singles. Sancho Arbizu won the first set 6-4 only to lose the second set in a tiebreaker 6-7 (4-7). Trailing 3-0 in the third set, Sancho Arbizu rallied back to win five straight games, which sparked the 6-4 final tally.
Red Birds Claim WAC Regular Season Championship
One day after Lamar announced it was leaving the WAC Lamar Men's Tennis earns its first WAC Regular Season Championship.