LONGVIEW, TX (04.27.19) - The UT Dallas men's tennis team claimed its second-ever American Southwest Conference championship Saturday afternoon with a 5-1 upset win over Concordia Texas in the league's title match.

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The Comets (16-1) avenged its only regular-season loss of the spring with Saturday's victory, collecting the program's first ASC crown since 2013. Next up for the UTD men is the squad's second-ever trip to the NCAA Division III National Championship. The field and locations of the 2019 national tournament will be released Monday, May 6, on ncaa.com.

UTD, the No. 16-ranked team in the NCAA D-III West Region, opened the dual with Concordia Texas by taking a 2-1 edge after doubles play. During the Comets' regular-season home loss to CTX on March 29, UTD dropped 2-of-3 doubles contests en route to a 5-4 loss, snapping an 18-match ASC West Division winning streak. CTX entered the postseason ranked No. 15 in the NCAA D-III West.

No. 2 doubles squad Ashwin Vaithianathan and Haydn Steffes started play with an 8-3 win over CTX's Hoahn Le/Jorge Garcia before the Comets took a 2-0 lead with an 8-4 win by Eric Chen and Brandon Giordanelli at No. 3 doubles over Adam Compton/Evan Pena. The Comets dropped an 8-2 decision at No. 3 to the Tornados in the regular season.

The Tornados (14-3) avoided the doubles sweep, however, with an 8-6 win by Joshua Bode/Esteban Arrendondo over Comets Mario Jelev and Giovanni Zamboni.

Up 2-1 heading to single play, the Comets had less pressure on them than in the regular season. Steffes would make quick work of Compton, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 4 singles to push UTD to a 3-1 lead. Zamboni added a 6-3, 6-1, win at No. 2 over Le before Vaithianathan collected the match-clincher, a 6-4, 6-2, win over Arrendondo at No. 3.

When the match concluded, Giordanelli was a set up at No. 6, Jelev was a set down at No. 1 and Chen was in a third set at No. 5.

Vaithianathan would be honored as the ASC Tournament Most Valuable Player, leading four Comets on the All-Tournament Team. Joining Vaithianathan were Giordanelli, Steffes and Zamboni.

The Comets will take an eight-match winning streak into the national tournament, which will begin May 10-12 on campus sites.