MARSHALL, TX (02.20.20) - The UT Dallas men's tennis team opened conference play with its first win of the season, handling East Texas Baptist, 8-1, Thursday afternoon on the road.

The Comets (now 1-1, 1-0 ASC East) bounced back from a season-opening loss last week to kick off return to the American Southwest Conference's East Division with a rollover win over the host Tigers. UTD will come home after back-to-back road matches to open the spring when the Comets host Pomona-Pitzer at 2 p.m. Saturday.

UTD stormed through doubles play, 3-0, before taking five of six singles duals in its league opener.  Giovanni Zamboni and partner Ritvik Ganesan were the first Comets tandem to record a point in the match, dispatching ETBU's Andrew Deutsch/Tyler Howard, 8-1, at No. 2 doubles. Top-flighted Ashwin Vaithianathan and Haydn Steffes claimed an 8-2 win at No.1 before Nick Boquet and John Edwards completed the doubles sweep with an 8-5 win at No. 3.

Boquet was the first Comet off the court in single play, claiming a quick 6-2, 6-2, win over Dalton Barron at No. 5. Mythreyan Ganesh added a 6-2, 6-2, win of his own at No. 6, to seal the team victory for the Comets. Vaithianathan (No. 1, 6-2, 6-3), Ganesan (No. 3, 6-4, 6-2) and Edwards (No. 4, 6-1, 6-4) each collected straight sets victories. UTD's only singles loss on the afternoon as Steffes dropped a marathon decision to John Herr, 6-1, 6-8, 11-9.