DALLAS – Right in line with the historic accomplishments of the UTSA men's tennis team's 2023 season, several Roadrunners have earned key Conference USA honors. Officials from the league office announced on Wednesday morning that Sergey Avdeyev has been named the Conference USA Coach of the Year, while Alan Magadan, Tiago Torres and Sebastian Rodriguez each garnered all-conference first team honors.
Leading UTSA to its most successful season since 2015, Avdeyev is in his fourth season guiding the Roadrunners. Avdeyev becomes the second UTSA men's tennis coach to receive Conference USA Coach of the Year honors, and the fourth across all leagues since the program's inception. At 18-6, the 2023 Roadrunners have accumulated the most wins since 1985 and reached new program highs in national rankings three times, including a program-best No. 34 – spending 11 consecutive weeks ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) top 50.
Under Avdeyev's guidance, UTSA reached the C-USA final for only the second time and have now earned the program's first NCAA at-large bid to make UTSA's fifth NCAA Championships appearance. The Roadrunners went 10-1 at home, aiding their effort to capture victories over six ranked teams, while going completely undefeated from Feb. 17 to April 23 in generating the longest NCAA DI win streak in the nation at the time.
Magadan and Torres each were voted to the All-Conference USA First Team Singles by the league's coaches, marking the fourth consecutive year with at least one Roadrunner among the first-team honorees.
A junior from McAllen, Texas, Magadan came to UTSA by way of Tyler Junior College and had a stellar debut for the Roadrunners, leading UTSA in singles victories with a 14-7 record in dual competition – primarily on court No. 2 where he produced an 11-4 output. Magadan reeled off 10 consecutive singles wins from Feb. 18 to March 19 and is 7-2 in his last 10 matches. Magadan won all three of his regular-season conference singles matches against FAU, Charlotte and Rice. He delivered the victory-clinching point in eight matches this spring, including in ranked victories over then-No. 53 FAU, No. 66 Wichita State, No. 54 Old Dominion and No. 28 VCU – claiming the VCU win over current No. 77 individual Charles Bertimon, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. Magadan was named the Conference USA Athlete of the Week on March 1 after a perfect week in helping UTSA to ranked wins over FAU and Wichita State.
In his second season out of Lisbon, Portrugal, Torres went 8-11 in his sophomore season, taking the top court and facing UTSA's highest count of nationally-ranked individual opponents (4). Torres earned a two-set victory over No. 88 Matisse Bobichon in aiding UTSA to a 4-2 win over 28th-ranked VCU. He also went to three sets with the nation's current No. 1 player, Eliot Spizzirri from Texas after opening on a 6-4 win but was forced to retire after rolling his ankle. He delivered the 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 match-clinching victory in the 4-3 win over current No. 74 Gonzaga, while also securing a key solo win in the ranked UTSA victory over No. 66 Wichita State. Torres was named the Conference USA Athlete of the Week on March 22nd after winning three singles and two doubles, aiding the Roadrunners to a perfect week vs. Gonzaga, Georgia State and Charlotte. This is his second all-conference award, having been named to the C-USA singles second team in 2022.
In addition, Magadan joins senior Sebastian Rodriguez on the Conference USA Doubles First Team – the second pair to receive the honor in Avdeyev's coaching tenure. Rodriguez was one of Avdeyev's earliest recruits and is in his fourth season out of Trujillo, Peru. The pair also were selected on Tuesday as part of the 32-pair field heading to the NCAA Doubles Championships , May 22-27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, after the conclusion of the team championship. They are set to face Vanderbilt's No. 18 duo Jeremie Casabon and Siim Troost to open competition as the only Conference USA pair in the tournament.
Magadan and Rodriguez head into the postseason with an ITA doubles ranking of 26th, but have ranked as high as No. 6 in the national standings this season. The pair's historic fall performance garnered UTSA's first ITA Regional Championship and an appearance in the ITA National Quarterfinal – the only non-Power 5 duo to reach that stage. Seeing a more limited partnership in the spring season, Magadan/Rodriguez went 3-4 against some of the toughest competition for any Roadrunners pair this season. They opened against current No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (Texas) and were leading an unfinished match against Oklahoma's Alex Martinez/Siphos Montsi. In total, the pair teamed up in 10 matches this spring, most recently putting up a 6-2 win over 64th-ranked Gonzaga duo Sasha Trkulja and Matthew Hollingworth. Making his second appearance on the all-conference teams, Rodriguez was the 2020 C-USA Freshman of the Year and was on the 2020 singles second team.
The 41st-ranked Roadrunners are opening up play at Austin's Texas Tennis Center on Saturday, May 6th, squaring off in a 10 a.m. first-ever meeting with West Coast Conference Champion No. 37 Pepperdine in the NCAA First Round. The winners of Saturday's NCAA opening round matches will move on to face each other at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 7.
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