by Matt Peterson

ABILENE  – The UT Tyler men’s and women’s tennis teams traveled to Abilene last Thursday to compete in the annual American Southwest Conference Singles/Doubles Fall Tournament and returned home with five singles titles and three doubles titles. 

For the men, Edward Timponi made his way through flight three after receiving a first round bye, winning two matches en route to his championship match victory against Mississippi College’s Matt Whiteside, 5-7, 7-5, 3-0.  

The other singles title for the men is still up in the air as the flight seven final between UT Tyler players Joey Hendrie and Matt Vechione was postponed due to weather and will be played in Tyler in the near future. 

Also reaching the finals for the Patriots’ men were Wright (flight 1) and Kevin Singer (flight 2)

In doubles matches, the Patriots’ men took home three titles.  In flight two, the duo of Rob Hodous and Kevin Wright beat teams from Centenary and Mississippi College before downing UT Dallas’s Amish Menon and Ian Lucio, 9-7, in the championship.  UT Tyler’s Drew Reid and Timponi won the flight three doubles title over Hardin-Simmons’ Steven Stanley and Gavin Ybarra.

The other doubles title has also yet to be determined, as the flight four doubles final was also postponed to a later date on the UT Tyler campus.  The match will feature an all-Patriots final with Vince Nguyen and Morgan Graham playing against teammates Ryan Brunson and Vechione.

On the women’s side, Jessica Blundell, Brittany Trich and Morgan Wilkins all took home singles titles for UT Tyler.  Blundell won flight three over Hardin Simmons’s Angie Nahn, 6-4, 7-6. Trich had several close matches on her way to the flight five final, before handling Cindy Tiu of UT Dallas 6-3, 6-1. 

Wilkins won flight six in impressive fashion, defeating McMurry’s Hilary Stone, 6-0, 6-0.  Also reaching the singles finals for the Patriots were Amy Friesenhahn, Sydni Hermsdorf, and Ashley Albro.