The UT Tyler Patriots won their third straight American Southwest Conference tennis championship on Saturday in Richardson. Coach Chris Bizot’s team won the Patriots eighth ASC title. Team members include: Alex Bouchard, Daniel Budd, Jake Cunningham, Ryan Elwood, Arthur Fagundes, Frankie Fischer, Joey Fischer, Alex Free, Pablo Gomez, Cameron McCarthy, Keaton McCormick, Jose McIntyre, Alfonso Medina, Jack Puckey and Jacob Van Der Schans. Assistant coach is Joe Vann. (Courtesy ASC)

RICHARDSON – The UT Tyler men’s tennis team captured its third straight and eighth overall American Southwest Conference championship on Saturday at the UT Dallas courts.

The Patriots (17-9) defeated UT Dallas 5-1 in the finals.

The eight conference championships are the most in history, breaking a tie with HSU, which has seven titles.

“They came out with a good sense of urgency today with No. 3 doubles (Pablo Gomez-Joey Fischer) really setting the tone,” UT Tyler coach Chris Bizot said. “I’m proud of the fact that they stuck together through some very tough match situations throughout the season.”

UT Tyler freshman Arthur Fagundes (Curitiba, Brazil) was named the ASC Tournament Most Valuable Player.

Patriots joining Fagundes on the all-tournament team were Daniel Budd (senior, Vancouver, British Columbia), Ryan Elwood (junior, Cypress) and Joey Fisher (junior, Georgetown).

Fagundes and Frankie Fischer (senior, Georgetown) made quick work of their Flight 1 doubles match with an 8-1 win, while Budd and Jose McIntyre (freshman, Seabrook) were 8-6 winners in Flight 2. Gomez and Joey Fischer swept through for an 8-0 Flight 3 doubles win.

In singles, Elwood captured a 6-2, 6-2 Flight 6 win to give the Patriots at 4-0 lead.

Joey Fischer clinched the championship with a 6-0, 6-2 Flight 4 singles win over UTD’s Ryan Morton. Joey Fischer earned his 11th win of the season, while Elwood is 10-3 in singles action.

UT Tyler earned the ASC automatic qualification to the NCAA Division III Tennis Championships, which will be held at the Stowe Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on May 23-25 with the individual championships scheduled for May 26-28.

“The guys are working hard and if we come together at the right time we feel we can accomplish special things,” Bizot said. “We are looking forward to competing in the NCAA tournament and rectifying some matches that got away from us in the regular season.”

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ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Arthur Fagundes (MVP), UT Tyler

Daniel Budd, UT Tyler

Ryan Elwood, UT Tyler

Joey Fisher, UT Tyler

Mario Jelev, UT Dallas

Ryan Morton, UT Dallas

Frankie Sanchez, Hardin-Simmons

Tyler Tolopka, East Texas Baptist