LONGVIEW, TX (04.25.19) - The UT Dallas men's tennis team is heading to the semifinals of the American Southwest Conference Championship for the fourth straight season after a commanding 5-0 win over Ozarks Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the 2019 event, held at the Davis Tennis Courts on the campus of LeTourneau.

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The Comets improved to 14-1 on the season after collected their eighth consecutive victory and will return to the courts at 2 p.m. Friday in the semifinals against either tournament host and ASC East champion LeTourneau. With a win Friday, UTD would qualify for a fourth straight ASC title mach, that match being played at 10 a.m. Saturday.

UTD rolled to a 3-0 lead in doubles play after three lop-sided victories. Top-flighted Mario Jelev and Giovanni Zamboni opened the duel with an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles over Ozarks' Melle Van Duijn/Reid Birch. Haydn Steffes and Ashwin Vaithianathan then added an 8-3 win of their own at No. 2 while Eric Chen and Brandon Giordanelli completed the doubles sweep with an 8-2 win at No. 3.

Vaithianathan was the first Comet singles player to finish as he posted a quick 6-2, 6-0, win over Birch at No. 3. Zamboni then concluded the match with a 6-3, 6-0, win at No. 2 singles over Jonah Martinez.

Jelev (No. 1), Steffes (No. 4), Chen (No. 5) and Jed De Luna (No. 6) were all up a set when the match ended.