MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In its third consecutive match against a ranked NAIA opponent, the No. 25 Loyola Wolf Pack men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 result to No. 21 Tennessee Southern on Saturday in the final match of the 2025 SSAC Roundup.
Loyola falls to 6-8 this season, 2-3 in conference play.
While the team has played well in doubles for most of the season even against top-10 teams, Saturday's doubles point went to UT Southern, with the Firehawks winning on all three doubles courts.
The doubles point ended up putting UTS on top at the end of the match, as each team won three singles matches.
Alfredo Gallegos got the first win for the Pack in singles, 6-2, 7-5 in his first match on court 4. He improved to 10-4 with the win, becoming the first Wolf Pack men's player to hit double-digit singles wins since Tiger Cheung went 11-7 during the 2019 season.
Spencer Matz was next to finish, outlasting his opponent 11-9 in a first-set tiebreak and then cruising to a 6-0 win in the second set. He's won four of his last six matches and is 6-5 this season.
After Matz's win on court 3, the Firehawks then won a second-set tiebreak to take the match at No. 6 singles, then forced a third set on court 2, eventually winning that match as well to seal the win. Remus Hebhang-Balan's match finished after UTS clinched, as he came back from down a set to win in three.
The Wolf Pack will take a break from conference play, heading to NCAA D-I Nicholls on Wednesday, April 9, before closing out the regular season at Mobile on April 12.
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Results
No. 25 Loyola – 3
No. 21 UT Southern – 4
Doubles
1. Dias/Rosa (UTS) def. Hebhang-Balan/Indrabalan (LOYNO) 6-4
2. #21 Cupertino de Santana/Matuck (UTS) def. Izrael/Motazed (LOYNO) 6-1
3. Audisio/Furuya (UTS) def. De Preville/Gallegos (LOYNO) 7-6 (7-5)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1. Remus Hebhang-Balan (LOYNO) def. Luis Guilherme Cupertino de Santana (UTS) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
2. Ryosuke Furuya (UTS) def. Hippolyte de Preville (LOYNO) 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-3
3. Spencer Matz (LOYNO) def. Daiki Ishii (UTS) 7-6 (11-9), 6-0
4. #62 Alfredo Gallegos (LOYNO) def. Nick Rosa (UTS) 6-2, 7-5
5. Felipe Dias (UTS) def. Jett Nguyen (LOYNO) 6-4, 6-3
6. Gaspar Audisio (UTS) def. Samuel Motazed (LOYNO) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 6, 2, 1
