WICHITA – The Wichita State men's tennis team narrowly lost to UT Arlington, 4-3, Thursday at Genesis Health Clubs.
 
The Mavericks (9-5) claimed an important doubles point to start the match with a 6-4 win at court two and a come-from-behind win at court three. Alex Richards and Luke Bracks' court one was left unfinished with the Shockers leading 5-3.
 
With the one-point deficit heading into the singles, the Shockers (9-9) needed four wins, but the Mavericks picked up four first sets to give them the advantage. Bracks won his first set, 6-4, at court four, and Alejandro Jacome took his first set to a tiebreaker in his second match at No. 2, prevailing 7-6 (5) to keep the Shockers in the match.
 
UTA's Lachlan Robertson and Anton Shepp increased the team's lead with successful second sets at courts five and one to go up 3-1, but Bracks responded with a 6-3 set two win to put the Shockers on the board.
 
After a set one loss at No. 6, Duccio Petreni battled back in the second set, taking the match to a tiebreaker, but ultimately fell, 6-3, 7-6 (2), in his fourth singles outing, and the Mavericks clinched the match, 4-1.
 
Playing the Nos. 2 and 3 matches out, Jacome claimed a decisive second-set win, 6-2, to improve to 10-4 on the season and 2-0 at court two. Richards evened his match with a 6-3 win in the second set and prevailed in the third set tiebreaker, 1-0 (10-8), to bring the final match score to 4-3.
 
The Shockers are back in action Saturday at Genesis Health Clubs for a match against former Missouri Valley Conference foe, No. 74 Drake. Doubles is set to begin at 1 p.m.