The UST Male Tennisters will head into a winner-take-all Game 3 for the UAAP Season 88 men’s tennis championship after falling in Game 2 to the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons on Saturday, March 28, at the Colegio San Agustin-Bulacan Tennis Court.
The Male Tennisters were on the verge of securing their 17th title after winning the first two singles matches but could not finish the tie as UP mounted a comeback.
UST’s Christopher Sonsona cruised past UP’s Aslan Carbonilla, 6-0, 6-2, in the third singles, before Ericjay Tangub edged Lance Fernandez, 7-6 (2), 6-0, in the first singles.
Rookie Evan Bacalso appeared set to clinch the team tie for UST after dominating the opening set against Loucas Fernandez, but lost the next two sets, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2, giving the Fighting Maroons a window to rally.
The Male Tennisters had two more opportunities to close out the tie in doubles but fell short in both matches.
“The pressure was too high, then bigla pang gumanda palo ng UP. … So siguro, it was not for us today,” UST head coach Alexander Diego told the Varsitarian.
Richard Bautista and Nash Agustines squandered a 7-3 lead in the deciding set of the first doubles, allowing Raymund Goco and Miguel Iglupas to complete a comeback, 4-6, 6-2, 11-9, and force a decider.
In the second doubles, Al-Zayeed Baid and Steven Sonsona also failed to deliver the clinching point, losing to Andrei Jarata and Carl Tan, 7-5, 6-1, as the Fighting Maroons completed the turnaround and tied the series.
“We [will] prepare for the last game tomorrow, andito lang naman kami [sa Bulacan] mag-stay, so we have a lot of time to rest and recover for tomorrow,” Diego added.
Game 3, which will be for the Season 88 championship is set for Sunday, March 29, at the same venue.
