March 26, 2006
Seniors Oliver Steil (Brunssum, The Netherlands/AF North International School) and Rehman Esmail (Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada/North Carolina State) each gutted out late victories in their singles' match en route to leading the Broncs to a 4-3 victory over Prairie View A&M in Houston, TX, on Sunday (Mar. 26).
The Broncs captured their first doubles' point of the season after Steil and Esmail won an 8-4 match over Luis Godoy and Jose Talavera. Nik Porter (Tunbridge Wells, England/Bennett Memorial School) and Andrew Bost (Corpus Christi, TX/Mary Carroll H.S.) won an 8-1 match over Andy Narido and Kuggai Chiridza.
The Panthers' team of Xavier Godoy and David Herrera won an 8-1 victory over Enrique Montemayor (Brownsville, TX/Hanna H.S.) and Danny Farias (Harlingen, TX/Temple College).
In the first flight of singles, Porter handed Chiridza a straight set 6-4, 6-3 setback while Esmail came back from a 6-3 downfall in the first set to capture the last two sets 7-6 (7-5) and 6-3 over Narido.
The Broncs were down by a 3-2 count after Montemayor, Bost and Farias each dropped their single match, but Steil came through in the clutch as he broke match point twice in the match to capture a 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) and 6-2 victory.
The Lady Broncs finished the weekend with a 1-1 record after the squad dropped a 7-0 match to the University of Houston, who is ranked 70th in the nation. UTPA won a match against Prairie View A&M by forfeit.
Against the Cougars, Nicole Garcia (Cibolo, TX/Lee College) and Silke Buksik (Waiblingen, Germany/Salier-Gymnasium Waiblingen) dropped an 8-1 decision to Loli Gomez and Sonja Nikolic in the first flight while Elysia Sloan (Duncanville, TX/Duncanville H.S.) and Shelia Mabulac (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg H.S.) suffered an 8-0 setback to Brianna Bateup and Vicky Simpson.
In singles' action, Buksik dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision to Gomez, and Garcia suffered a 6-1 and 6-0 loss to Bateup in the second flight. Nikolic won a 6-1, 6-2 match against Sloan in the third flight while Mabulac lost to Miller in straight sets, 6-0 and 6-0.
The Broncs and Lady Broncs will both return to the Orville Cox Tennis Center on Saturday (Apr. 1) when they take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
UTPA Sports Information
