Troy men’s tennis earns fifth straight win

After going 2-0 last week, the Troy men’s tennis team extended its winning streak to five matches after they defeated South Carolina State, 5-2, at the UTSA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.

The Trojans started off hot, winning the doubles point for the third match in a row and the ninth time in the last 10 matches. After Nicolas Simkin and Noah Martens opened things with a 6-3 win, Luciano Alcocer and Hiiro Sakamoto recorded their 10th doubles win of the season to clinch the doubles point and give the Trojans an early 1-0 lead.

Along with a doubles win, Sakamoto and Alcocer both individually took home a singles point. Sakamoto bested his opponent 6-3, 6-1 and Alcocer won 6-3, 6-1 on line six. Both Sakamoto and Alcocer now boast double-digit win tallies in singles with 11 and 10, respectively.

After dropping a pair of matches last week, Nicolas Simkin got back on track and picked up a singles win for the Trojans before Yeray Andres Pastor would win the last singles point for the Trojans, picking up his eighth singles win in the process.

Playing from line one, Simkin secured a 6-2, 6-4 victory. Andres Pastor – playing from line two -- battled to a 7-6 win in the first set and breezed past Aissa Benchakroun 6-3 in the second set.

In lines two and three, Noah Martens and Henrique de Brito both dropped close matches as South Carolina State won its only two points of the day. Martens lost a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 match while de Brito lost in 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7) fashion.

The Trojans are now 10-4 this spring and look to make it 11 wins as they head to Huntsville, Alabama to take on the Alabama A&M Bulldogs. First serve is set for 1 p.m.