Jan. 24, 2007

Box Score

The University of Texas-Pan American men's tennis team was blanked in its second event of the spring season when it suffered a 7-0 setback to the 36th-ranked TCU Horned Frogs on Wednesday (Jan. 24) in Fort Worth, TX.

"It's a little earlier in the season than I'd like to be playing these teams, but our team will be ready to play at a high level later on in the season because we are playing nationally-ranked opponents," said head men's and women's coach Rob Hubbard.

In singles' competition, junior Gary Bianco (Annecy, France/Lycee Berthollet) fell to Cosmin Cotet (6-0, 6-1) in the number-one spot on the lineup while teammate David Lopez-Heredia dropped his match against graduate transfer Chris Biro (6-3, 6-4).

UTPA newcomer Nirvick Mohinta (Calcutta, West Bengal India/University of New Orleans) was defeated by Kriegler Brink (7-5, 6-0) while Shashank Vij (Helsinki, Finland/University of New Orleans) also fought hard before falling to Andrew Ulrich (7-5, 6-1) in other singles' competition.

Freshman Brett Bernstein (Sugarland, TX/Austin H.S.) dropped his singles' match-up against Caleb Bulls (6-2, 6-2) while Rosendo Cantu (Houston, TX/Cesar E. Chavez H.S.) was defeated by Stuart Row (6-1, 6-0).

In doubles' play, the duo of Bernstein and Lopez-Heredia were up 6-3 early before being narrowly defeated by the senior TCU squad of Biro and Ulrich (8-7).

The pairing of Bianco and Mohinta fell to Brink and Bulls (8-3) while the tandem of Vij and Cantu fell to Cotet and Row (8-4) in other doubles' action.

"Everyone played better today, and with another match under our belt, we hope to hit full stride in the second week of February. They aren't afraid to play nationally-ranked competition," said Hubbard.

The Broncs return to action when they face Texas A&M on Saturday (Feb. 3) in College Station, TX, at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center with the event set for 12:00 p.m.

UTPA Sports Information