Owls Men’s Tennis Qualifies for UMAC Championship for First Time

The MUW men’s tennis team has qualified for the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) championship tournament for the first time, following a runner-up finish in the UMAC South Division on Friday. The Owls, seeded second, defeated third-seeded Webster University 4-0 in the semifinals before losing 4-1 to top-seeded Greenville University in a marathon final.

The four-team conference tournament is hosted at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis. It begins Friday with the semifinals and concludes Saturday with the championship match. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division III men’s tennis tournament.

In the semifinal against Webster, MUW claimed the team point early with a doubles victory. Juan Garcia and Marcos Fernandez won at No. 2 doubles 6-2, and Alvaro Bardales and Josh Cooper won at third doubles 6-0, with No. 1 doubles unfinished. The Owls sealed the match with three straight-set singles wins. Garcia defeated his opponent 6-0, 6-2 at third singles. Bardales and Cooper also won at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively, with scores of 6-0, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-1.

In the final against Greenville, the Owls and Panthers exchanged wins across the lineup. Two doubles matches went to tiebreakers, and four of the six singles matches split sets. MUW’s only point came from Jorge Ortiz Catala at No. 1 singles, who won the first set 6-2, lost the second 6-0, then took the deciding set 6-2.

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