March 8, 2005

Box Score

The University of Texas - Pan American men's tennis team blanked St. Louis University in a non-conference duel match played on neutral courts in Corpus Christi, TX. The 7-0 victory takes the team to 2-3 on the season.

The team battled for the doubles point as the duo of Jeremy Salvo (Conquitlam, B.C., Canada/Centennial Secondary) and Rehman Esmail (Coquitlam, B.C., Canada/North Carolina State) were victorious in the No. 1 spot beating SLU's Tom de Larzac and Chris Welnetz, 8-6.

In the No. 2 spot, UTPA's Pierre Cantu (El Paso, TX/Eastwood H.S.) and Nik Porter (Tunbridge Wells, England/Bennett Memorial School) dropped a close match, 9-7, to James Wilson and Paul Feder. The team then sealed the doubles point as the No. 3 match went in their favor, 8-3, as Alejandro Pacheco Jr. (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial H.S.) and Oliver Steil (Brunssum, The Netherlands/AF North International School) finished off the Billiken's Matt Rineberg and Andrew Balcer.

The team then swept the singles matches to take the next six points and record the victory. Salvo played in the No. 1 position and took the close first set over Larzac, 7-6, before winning the second by a 6-3 margin. UTPA cleaned up in the No. 2-5 slots in straight sets while Pacheco, playing in the No. 6 spot, battled out the longest match of the day by winning 6-3 in the first set, dropping 3-6 in the second then taking the super tie-breaker, 10-5.

The team will be back in action Mar. 19th in a match against Columbia University held in Arlington, TX, with a 10:00 a.m. start time.

UTPA Sports Information