Texas claimed its first victory of the season over the weekend, capturing the doubles title at the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational in Midland. Longhorn juniors Adrian Ortiz and Colin Markes won the last five games of their championship match and claimed the men’s doubles title versus Abilene Christian.

Ortiz and Markes took on the sibling team of Jonathan and Josh Sheehy in Sunday’s final. The brothers took a 5-3 lead in the eight-game pro set final, but Ortiz and Markes swept the final five games to pull off the 8-5 win.

The Invitational served as the venue for Ortiz’s return to collegiate tennis, as he missed all of last season with an injury. After posting a record of 18–9 in singles play two years ago, Ortiz has already made an impact on the Longhorns’ success this season.

“That was a good performance today by those guys,” head coach Michael Center said. “Adrian hadn’t played in over a year. We were actually down a break early, but the guys won the last five games of the match and played really well down the stretch. The Abilene Christian team plays excellent doubles, so that was a great effort by our guys to win the final.”

Winner of last year’s singles final, Markes lost 6-4, 6-4 to Oklahoma’s Ferran Calvo. While unable to repeat his singles performance from last year’s tournament, Markes still played a large role in bringing the doubles title home.

“Colin lost one break in each set, and that ultimately decided the match, but he played a great tournament,” Center said. “He served well all week and made another final. Colin has a lot to feel good about this weekend.”

The Longhorn men have had an athlete play in the singles final the past three years, winning the previous two. In the past two seasons, Texas sent a pairing to the doubles final as well.

The burnt orange will continue its fall slate later this week at the Cajun Tennis Classic in Lafayette, Louisiana. Play will begin Friday.