SAN ANTONIO, Texas – On a hot day, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis team couldn't cool down an experienced UIW team as the Cardinals came out on top of a 6-1 decision Tuesday at Marby Tennis Center.
The Islanders (15-6, 2-1 SLC) fought to the end after rain delayed the teams over an hour as the courts dried when the sun finally peaked out and shined down on the title game. Unfortunately, it was the home Cardinals stacked with seniors (18-3, 4-0 SLC) that were able to maintain an undefeated conference record.
"You just have to give 100% credit to Incarnate Word today! They had a group of very mentally tough seniors and they flat out rose up and outfought us. To rise and grow from that, you must first acknowledge it: we got outfought today! And the acknowledgement of that is what will give you the savage motivation to make sure it never happens again. So, we acknowledge it, we swallow it, we own it, and we make a commitment as a group of brothers to stick together, get tougher, and rise forward! Onward and upward for the blue-collar Islanders!" said head coach
Steve Moore.
It was just A&M-Corpus Christi's second-ever loss to UIW and first since 2018.
Despite the team loss, sophomore
Etienne Marty earned his first conference singles win of the year at court two. He dug deep for a 7-6 first-set win following an 8-6 tiebreak for the lead in the dual before UIW caught up with a second-set win. With the other courts long over, Marty finally closed out the grueling match with a 10-6 third-set tiebreaker for the Islanders' sole point.
He and senior
Avery Zavala were up 5-4 at No. 1 doubles before UIW clinched the other two courts. They have not lost a doubles match in conference play this year.
The Islanders will look to recoup with their regular season finale back at home against Lamar Thursday at 11 a.m. There, they will honor Zavala in a special Senior Day recognition before looking ahead to the SLC Championships, set for next weekend back in San Antonio.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 16 NCAA Tournaments
- 34 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 41 Straight Semesters
- Islanders have received a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament three times
- Women's tennis has cracked the ITA top-75 national rankings three times
- Men's tennis has cracked the ITA national rankings 10 consecutive years
- Ranked nationally in NCAA DI as high as No. 35 for the men and No. 60 for the women
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