WICHITA FALLS, Texas – After the first day of the ITA South Central Regionals, four of the 16 remaining players are from MSU Denver.
 
Ninth-seeded Alejandro Martinez-Morilla, No. 10 seed Daniel Llorente and 16^th-seeded Mateo Besada all won two matches Friday, as did David Kijak, who knocked off the tournament's No. 14 seed for his second win.
 
"I thought we had a pretty successful first day," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Josh Graetz said. "There are only eight matches in the next round of the main draw and to be in half of those is a testament to the guys."
 
Meanwhile, both Joshua King and Billy McDermott bounced back from first-round losses to win their consolation matches.
 
MSU Denver lost singles matches to outside competition for the first time all season. The Roadrunners are now 31-4 when not playing against one another.
 
In doubles, the seventh-seeded tandem of Besada and King won twice to reach the quarterfinals, Martinez-Morilla and Jordi Ribera were knocked out after a first-round win, and the McDermott brothers – Billy and Jack – are still playing after picking up a consolation-round win.
 
The three-day tournament – in which the winners advance to the ITA Cup – continues Saturday.
 
At 8 a.m. MDT Saturday, Besada faces No. 1 seed Angel Palacios of host Midwestern State (Texas), Martinez-Morilla will attempt to make the quarterfinals for the third consecutive year in a matchup against Gabriel Zuniga of St. Edward's (Texas), Kijak plays unseeded Marc Maciel of St. Mary's (Texas) and Llorente plays No. 2 seed Anish Sriniketh of St. Edward's.
 
"We are continuing to work on our emotions on court and to better control our highs and lows, but I think we're heading in the right direction," Graetz said. "I'm excited to watch us in action tomorrow."
 
Friday's MSU Denver results:
 
SINGLES MAIN DRAW
(16) Mateo Besada (MSU Denver) def. Hunter Terrell (DBU) 6-1, 6-4
(9) Alejandro Martinez-Morilla (MSU Denver) def. Quentin Scharfenberg (MSUT) 6-4, 6-2
Enrique Sanchez (UTPB) def. Joshua King (MSU Denver) 6-3, 6-2
Bojan Popvic (StM) def. Jack McDermott (MSU Denver) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
David Kijak (MSU Denver) def. Martin Thomas (UTT) 6-4, 7-5
(7) Oscar del Granado (Cam) def. Billy McDermott (MSU Denver) 6-1, 6-3
(10) Daniel Llorente (MSU Denver) def. Daniel Garcia (CSUP) 7-5, 6-0
(16) Besada def. Jonas Dixon (UTT) 6-3, 6-1
(9) Martinez-Morilla def. Luis Bonnay (StM) 6-3, 6-0
Kijak def. (14) Alberto Diaz (MSUT) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
(10) Llorente def. Grant McKenzie (DBU) 6-3, 6-3
 
SINGLES CONSOLATION DRAW
King def. Ethan Eddleman (AFtS) 6-1, 6-1
Edward Cooper (CSUP) def. J.McDermott 7-6 (3), 6-2
B.McDermott def. Nakul Kumbria (DBU) 6-1, 6-1
 
DOUBLES MAIN DRAW
(4) Gonzalez/Brown (StM) def. B.McDermott/J.McDermott 8-2
(7) Besada/King def. Rodriguez/Hidalgo (UTT) 8-4
Martinez-Morilla/Jordi Ribera def. Bradshaw/Venkatchalam (MSUT) 9-8 (7)
(7) Besada/King def. Sanchez/Kumbria (UTPB) 8-3
(6) Popovic/Konakanchi (StM) def. Martinez-Morilla/Ribera 8-4
 
DOUBLES CONSOLATION DRAW
B.McDermott/J.McDermott def. Berdasco/Svicevic (Cam) 8-3