March 11, 2006

The University of Texas-Pan American women's tennis team soundly defeated the Laredo Community College Palominos 6-1 while the men's team fell by a 6-1 margin on Saturday (Mar. 11).

The Lady Broncs won the doubles point by winning all three doubles matches. Silke Buksik (Waiblingen, Germany/Salier-Gymnasium Waiblingen) and Nicole Garcia (Cibolo, TX/Lee College) teamed up in the top-flight to beat Cristel Antorioli and Clelia Melena 8-2. The duo of Marine de Bourqueney (Paris, France/Fenelon Sainte Marie) and Elysia Sloan (Duncanville, TX/Duncanville H.S.) won the second-flight 8-3 while the third flight was won by UTPA by default.

In singles, Buksik was defeated by Clelia Melena in the first flight 6-4, 6-3 and De Bouqueney downed Antorioli 7-5, 6-2 in the second flight. On the next court, Sloan dominated Elizabeth Garcia by a 6-0, 6-0 count and Sheila Mabulac (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg H.S.) won a hard-fought match over Triana Palacios 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-4) in the fourth-flight. The fifth flight was won by Garcia, 6-1, 6-0 against Samantha Jackson. Jessica Nanez (Hidalgo, TX/Hidalgo H.S.) won the final flight by default.

On the men's side, LCC started by winning the doubles point as Alejandro Gonzalez and Jose Pablo Arizpe defeated Nik Porter (Tunbridge Wells, England) and Andrew Bost (Corpus Christi, TX/Mary Carroll H.S.) 8-3 in the first flight. Seniors Oliver Steil (Brunssum, The Netherlands/AF North International School) and Rehman Esmail (Coquitlam, BC, Canada/North Carolina State) narrowly lost to Henry Estrella and Gwen Corches 9-8 (4). The last doubles point went to UTPA by default.

Porter played number one singles against Gonzalez and fell 6-3, 6-0 while Steil dropped his match against Estrella 6-3, 7-6. Esmail played a tight match in the third flight, losing 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7). Bost fell by a 6-3, 6-0 count and Danny Farias (Harlingen, TX/Temple College) was handed a 6-4, 6-2 setback by Arnaud Guillemaud. Enrique Montemayor (Brownsville, TX/Hanna H.S.) was the sixth flight by default.

The Lady Broncs improved their season record to 5-7 with the win, their third straight. The Broncs are now 1-9 on the season.

Both teams will be back on the court on Saturday (Mar. 18) in San Antonio, TX when UTPA takes on the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners. The women play at 10:00 a.m. with the men following at 2:00 p.m.

UTPA Sports Information