WACO, Texas – Seventh-seeded St. Thomas opened the Southern Collegiate Athletic Men's Tennis Championship with an impressive 4-1 opening round victory over No. 11 Schreiner Thursday night at Hawkins Tennis Center on the campus of Baylor University. Official Website l Postmatch Interview 

The Celts evened their overall mark to 7-7 and will take on second-seeded Southwestern in the quarterfinals. The Mountaineers concluded their season with a 2-14 record.

After the match was moved to the indoor courts at Baylor, the format was changed to starting with singles play and the Celts would clinch the match without the need for doubles competition.

St. Thomas jumped out to a 3-0 lead as Pooya Tork (No. 3), Raja Pandya (No. 2) and Sawyer White (No. 4) each earned wins, including a come-from-behind 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 win by Pandya at No. 2 singles. Schreiner's Darren Nava kept the Mountaineers alive with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 1 singles, but the Celts' Wilson Salazar Jr., clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-0 straight set sweep at the No. 5 line. 

UP NEXT

St. Thomas advances to meet second-seeded Southwestern University in the quarterfinals in a match that will begin at 12:30 pm CT. The win marks the fourth time in the last five years the Celts have won their first SCAC tournament match - and the third time they have defeated Schreiner in that match (2022 and 2023).