MARSHALL, Texas – The inaugural men's tennis season at the University of St. Thomas got off to a good start Saturday as the Celts defeated East Texas Baptist by a score of 6-3.

Juanrodrigo Lopez (SO/Houston, Texas) and Quashi "Ayo" Philips led the way for the Celts, as the players were victorious in their singles matches and as UST's top doubles team. The pair defeated ETBU's John Herr and Joseph Salinas by a score of 8-5.

The Celts ended up taking two out of three doubles matches, as Michael Hopkins (FR/Missouri City, Texas) and Jace Ware (FR/Pampa, Texas) won their flight three match over Adam Morris and Noah Smistad by a score of 8-1. Flight two saw UST's Race Haas (FR/Friendswood, Texas) and Tyler Head (FR/Sweeny, Texas) fall to Tyler Howard and Andrew Deutsch by an 8-2 scoreline.

In singles play, Lopez (flight one) and Head (flight six) won their matches in straight sets. Lopez defeated Salinas by scores of 6-0 and 6-1, while Head defeated Dalton Barron 6-4, 6-4.

After dropping his opening set in flight four to Howard, Philips came back to win the next two for UST, winning by scores of 2-6, 6-2, and 6-4. Haas (flight two) was also victorious in three sets, defeating Herr 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

In flight three, Hopkins fell to Deutsch by scores of 6-4, 6-8, and 6-4, while Ware lost his flight five match to Morris by scores of 7-6 (10-3), 2-6, 11-9.

The exhibition portion of the dual match saw UST's Dorian Cudina (FR/Katy, Texas) win his singles match over Smistad by a score of 8-3. In doubles play, Cudina and Carson Steele (FR/Houston, Texas) fell 8-3 to ETBU's Barron and Matt Fuhr.

The Celts return to action Saturday, Feb. 1, when they host Southwestern (Texas) at Memorial Park. First serves are scheduled for 3 p.m.