WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Though four of the final 16 men's tennis players at the 2019 ITA South Central Regional were MSU Denver Roadrunners, none were able to make it through to Sunday's semifinal matches despite a couple of solid performances on Saturday.

"I'm really proud of the way we competed this weekend," MSU Denver coach Josh Graetz said of his men's squad. "We had some guys learn about themselves this weekend and realized they can compete at high levels."

One of those student-athletes was sophomore David Kijak, who advanced to the quarterfinals despite entering the tournament unseeded. After defeating 14^th-seeded Alberto Diaz of Midwestern State (Texas) on Friday, Kijak knocked off Marc Maciel of St. Mary's (Texas) on Saturday (6-3, 6-2). He eventually fell to 11^th-seeded Bruno Vietri of Cameron (Okla.) in the quarterfinals (6-1, 6-2).

No. 9 seed Alejandro Martinez-Morilla joined Kijak in the quarterfinals after a hard-fought 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over No. 8 seed Gabriel Zuniga of St. Edward's on Saturday morning. That win moved Martinez-Morilla into a matchup with top seed Angel Palacios of Midwestern State later in the day.

Palacios claimed a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Martinez-Morilla after he had beaten fellow Roadrunner and No. 16 seed Mateo Besada earlier Saturday morning by a 6-0, 6-0 count. No. 10 seed Daniel Llorente also encountered a difficult opponent in the opening time slot on Saturday morning, falling to second-seeded Anish Sriniketh of St. Edward's (Texas) (6-2, 6-4).

In the main doubles draw, seventh-seeded duo Mateo Besada and Joshua King dropped their quarterfinal match to a pair of St. Edward's Hilltoppers on Saturday afternoon by an 8-2 score.

Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Billy McDermott reached the semifinal of the singles consolation bracket with two wins on Saturday. He also advanced to the final match of the doubles consolation bracket with his brother Jack, defeating a Dallas Baptist pair to make it to the semifinals before a default sent the pair into the finals.

The McDermotts will not play in the remaining matches due to MSU Denver's results in the main draws on Saturday.

MSU Denver will take a break from competition for the next few months, returning to the court in mid-January for a pair of exhibitions at the Air Force Academy.

"Moving forward we need to get better at maintaining mental focus for longer periods, but overall I'm excited with our progress," Graetz said.

After another exhibition with the University of Denver in late January, the Roadrunners will pick up regular season dual action once again at Northern Colorado on Feb. 1.   

Saturday's MSU Denver results:

SINGLES MAIN DRAW
(1) Angel Palacios (MSUT) def. (16) Mateo Besada (MSU Denver) 6-0, 6-0
(9) Alejandro Martinez-Morilla (MSU Denver) def. (8) Gabriel Zuniga (SEU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-0
David Kijak (MSU Denver) def. Marc Maciel (STMU) 6-3, 6-2
(2) Anish Sriniketh (SEU) def. (10) Daniel Llorente (MSU Denver) 6-2, 6-4
(1) Angel Palacios (MSUT) def. (9) Alejandro Martinez-Morilla (MSU Denver) 6-0, 6-2
(11) Bruno Vietri (Cam.) def. David Kijak (MSU Denver) 6-1, 6-2

SINGLES CONSOLATION DRAW
Joshua King (MSU Denver) def. Riley Smith (DBU) 6-2, 6-2
Billy McDermott (MSU Denver) def. Brendan Brown (STMU) 6-3, 6-2
Cameron Goldstein (SEU) def. Joshua King (MSU Denver) 6-4, 6-4
Billy McDermott (MSU Denver) def. Jorge Garcia (UTPB) 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (6)

DOUBLES MAIN DRAW
Wikso/Ramireddy (SEU) def. Besada/King (MSU Denver) 8-2

DOUBLES CONSOLATION DRAW
B. McDermott/J. McDermott def. Delao/Dayman (DBU) 8-1