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Writer's pictureTaylor Fraze

Tennis splits first conference road trip

Troy men’s tennis began its conference season over Spring Break with road visits to nationally ranked Old Dominion and James Madison.

Prior to this road trip, Troy extended its home winning streak to nine games by defeating Tennessee State in a closely fought matchup.

The Trojans began spring break with an exclamation. Tennessee State visited the Lunsford Tennis Complex on Monday, March 11 for a battle against the Trojans. Troy took the victory in dramatic fashion, winning 4-3 to improve to 14-2 on the season.

The Trojans won the doubles point over the Tigers to improve to 13-1 in doubles over their last six matches. Troy is 28-1 when winning the doubles point over the last two seasons, so claiming this against Tennessee State was a big momentum swing in the right direction. Mario Martinez and Luciano Alcocer remain unbeaten in doubles after their victory over the Tigers’ duo Taj Hibbert and Rohan Loubser.

The match would come down to the wire in singles.  Martinez remained a perfect 16-0 in singles after he defeated his opponent Daniel Caraballo in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. This extended Troy’s lead to 2-0. Yeray Andres Pastor furthered the lead after his two-set sweep, 6-2, 3-0. The Tigers made things interesting by winning the next two singles matches over Carles Anton and Noah Martens to shrink Troy’s lead to 3-2.

The match would be decided by Alcocer. Alcocer lost the first set and was in danger of being swept before a rally forced a tie-breaking third set. Alcocer won the third set 7-4 to clinch the match victory for the Trojans.

Two days later, Troy began its conference journey by visiting the defending conference champions No. 48 Old Dominion. History was not on the Trojan’s side for this match as Troy fell to 0-3 when losing the doubles point. ODU would claim the match with a 4-2 victory snapping Troy’s six-match win streak. Martinez and Alcocer still remained unbeaten in doubles, claiming the only doubles victory for Troy against the Monarchs’ duo Yanis Moundir and Maxime Mareschal-Hay.

Once again, the match came down to a thriller in singles. Pastor claimed the first point for Troy with a decisive two-set victory over ODU’s Aryan Saleh, 6-4, 6-2. Martens would then tie the match at 2-2 after his victory over Codie van Schalkwyk. Alcocer dropped his matchup on court six, leaving the match in the hands of Martinez.

Martinez battled with Connor van Schalkwyk in a three-set match. Schalkwyk claimed the first set 6-4, before Martinez forced a tiebreaker with a 6-2 victory in set two. Martinez would then drop his first singles match of the season, losing the final set 6-2. ODU would claim the match 4-2 after this victory.

Troy traveled to Harrisonburg, Virginia for redemption against JMU. Troy bounced back in a huge way, winning 4-1 over the Dukes. As with many matches before, Troy’s success can be traced back to winning the doubles point, which Troy claimed over JMU with victories from Anton and Pastor and once again Martinez and Alcocer.

Martinez bounced back from his first singles loss with a dominating two-set sweep over Youssef Sadek, 6-2,6-3. JMU would then claim the next singles point after Julian Lozano handed Anton a two-set loss, 6-1, 6-4. This would be JMU’s only win of the day.

Troy would win the next two matchups to claim the match 4-1. Martens defeated Esteve Agusti in two sets, and Pastor handed Markus Giersiepen a two-set loss. The other singles matches were called unfinished after Troy claimed the clinching point.

The nationally ranked 15-3 Trojans will continue their conference season on Saturday, March 23 against Louisiana. This match will be played at the Lunsford Tennis Complex in Troy with doubles set to start at 10 a.m. A match with Southern Miss follows on Sunday at 10 a.m.

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