Air Force Academy
HEB Invitational
Two Doubles Teams Advance at Baylor Invite
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 25, 2009
Two Air Force men's singles players and two doubles teams are still alive after the first day of the 2009 Baylor HEB Intercollegiate Tennis Invitational in Waco, Texas. Sophomore Cody Hall and freshman Stephen Katrein are alive in the "B" singles flight consolation bracket, while Katrein and senior Austin Francis as well as senior Brett Rodgers and junior Taylor Soster are in the quarterfinals of the "B" doubles flight bracket.
Francis and Katrein opened the tournament with an 8-6 victory over Jorge Delgado and Max Stratmann of Texas-San Antonio in the first round, then defeated Gonzalo Bienzobas and Giacomo Sano of Texas-Arlington, 8-4, in the second round. Meanwhile, Rodgers and Soster won their first-round match, 8-6, over Hugo Guanais and Shariq Kahn of Texas-San Antonio and posted a second-round win over Esteban Flores and Renardy Guelfi of Oklahoma Christian by the same score. Both teams will play in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
In singles play, Francis and freshman Lance Wilhelm each won his first-round match. Francis pulled out a marathon, 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 victory over Giacomo Sano of Texas-Arlington that took 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete. Francis then fell to Christian Saravia of Rice, 6-1, 6-2 in the second round. Wilhelm, meanwhile, picked up his first collegiate victory with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Flores. He then lost to Rice's Andy Wang, 6-1, 7-5 in the second round.
Hall dropped his first-round match to Yanick Mandl of Louisiana-Lafayette, 6-0, 6-2, but rebounded for a 6-2, 6-7, (10-6) triumph over Vishnu Rajam of Rice in the first-round of the consolation bracket. Katrein lost to Hugo Guanais of Texas-San Antonio, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the first round and received a bye in the consolation bracket on Friday.
For updates throughout the tournament, click here.
