THE UST Male Tennisters crashed out of finals contention after surrendering to the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, 2-3, in the UAAP Season 81 men’s lawn tennis tournament at the Colegio San Agustin-Bulacan Saturday.
The Male Tennisters ended their campaign at third place with an 8-5 win-loss record. They finished fourth last year.
With the game tied at two matches each, Male Tennister Jaffary Cariga succumbed to Blue Eagle Iyo Canlas, 1-6, 4-6, in the last match.
UST evened the game as the duo of Clarence Cabahug and Chrisitian Lopez scored a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win against Ateneo’s Bong Gonzales and Julian Dayrit.
“Kahit hindi namin nakuha (‘yong win), mas okay kami sa results kasi mas dikit (‘yong laban) today tapos nag-improve naman kami sa ranking compared last year,” Male Tennisters head coach Alexander Diego told the Varsitarian.
After back-to-back losses in the first two matches, Male Tennisters Francis Lanzado and Bernlou Bering kept UST at bay after nipping Blue Eagles Luke Flores and Erj Gatdula, 6-1, 6-4.
UST will lose the services of co-captain Francis Lanzado, Warren Lagahit, Joel Librodo, Andre Santos and Bernlou Bering after exhausting their playing years.
