MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (April 6, 2022) - The receiving votes St. Thomas University Men's Tennis team (13-7, 2-3 SUN) competed in the IWU Invitational, hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University, on March 31-April 3, with 16 other NAIA tennis programs from around the country. During the week the Bobcats played no. 2 Indiana Wesleyan, Lewis-Clark State College (ID), RV Holy Cross College, Huntington University, and RV Marian University. The men compiled a 3-2 record during the week of tough competition.

The Bobcats kicked off the trip with a difficult Indiana Wesleyan team that has compiled a 33-3 record, including a convincing win over Sun Conference Champions Keiser University. While the team fought hard in doubles, they were overmatched in singles, with the match resulting in a 4-0 loss.

The following morning the Bobcats took on Lewis-Clark State College from Idaho. The guys pulled out a convincing win on third court doubles, allowing Jacob Turley and Luis Leon, to clinch the doubles point with a hard-fought win 7-5 on court two. Using the momentum from the doubles victory, the Bobcats proceeded to win three of the next four singles courts to secure a 4-1 victory. Captain Raul Safont Martinez set the tone early with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 win on court three. Sun Conference Player of the Week Alessandro Tabares followed suit with a tight 6-4, 7-6 on court one, and Lucas Ribas clinched the match with 7-6, 6-3 win.

Directly from their morning match, the team hit the road to South Bend, Ind. where they squared off with fellow (RV) Holy Cross College (ind.) at the University of Notre Dame indoor tennis facility. This second match of a double header was as close of a match that the team has played all season, with every court coming down to a point or two. St. Thomas came out on fire, winning all three doubles courts to take an early lead. Tabares then fought back to win in three sets after losing his first set to put the Bobcats ahead 2-0. However, that was the last court that the Bobcats were able to secure. Junior, Juan Patino Pabon was unable to secure a victory despite having four match points in his favor on court five, while Freshmen, Luis Diego Leon was also unable to capitalize while serving for the match on court six. Coach Roche said, "While this was a 5-2 loss on paper, this could easily have been a 5-2 win in our favor, however we were not able to close tight matches when we needed to, and Holy Cross took advantage of it. They were a very solid team, but this is a match we must win. Hopefully the guys can use this to help close out wins going forward."

After completing the previous nights match and getting back to the hotel at 1:30 am, the team had an early 9:00 am warmup the following morning with another dangerous team, in Huntington University. Grad Student Tom Andrews and Ribas secured the doubles point in a hard fought 7-5 win, after Safont Martinez and Tabares won easily on court three. Singles play remained tight; however, both Tabares and Safont Martinez were able to dispatch their opponents quickly to put the Bobcats up 3-1, allowing fellow Graduate Student, Jacob Turley, to seal the win at number six singles, with a win of 6-1, 7-6 (12).

The Bobcats wrapped up the IWU invite with their first outdoor match of the trip against fellow RV Marian University. Once again, the Bobcats took the doubles point in convincing fashion, leading into a round of competitive singles matches. Safont Martinez set the tone again with a 6-3, 6-0 win, followed by Andrews with a 6-4, 6-4 win. Ribas lost a tough match on court 2, bringing the score to 3-1. As Tabares and Patino Pabon both raced to be the clinching point, both players got tight and lost their second sets resulting in third set tiebreakers for both. Tabares was unable to secure the win on court one, but Patino Pabon came up with a convincing 10-3 win on court five, clinching the match 4-2.

Coach Roche said, "We struggled to close the match out again, but Juan [Patino Pabo] came up big in his third set tiebreak. This showed a lot of growth from the Holy Cross match, which was a very similar situation. The guys have a few tough matches left this season to try and sneak into the conference tournament and receive a national bid. Going 10-3 in the last 13 matches has put us right back in the national conversation."