March 23, 2009
Junior Nirvick Mohinta clinched the deciding win for the Broncs as UTPA defeated #39 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-2 this Sunday (March 22) afternoon at the 51st Annual Hampton Inn Galleria Rice Invite hosted by Rice University.
The win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi improves the Broncs record to 4-10, but does not count towards their Southland Conference record, which leaves them at 3-1.
"Everyone played well, even from the beginning when we didn't get the doubles point, you could tell the guys were ready to play," said interim head coach Chris Gill. "We played two very tough teams the last two days and even though things didn't go our way, I was very confident that if we played our best today we could come out on top and we did."
Even though the Broncs only won one of their doubles match, they picked up four wins in singles play to defeat the Islanders.
Aswin Vijayaragavan partnered up with Brett Bernstein, for the second time this season, to defeat Mikhail Pavlov and Dmitry Novikov 8-6 in number-one doubles.
With singles underway, the Broncs picked up wins in the number-one, -two, -five and -six spots of the rotation. Vijayaragavan upset Novikov 6-3, 6-1 in the number-one spot while Beau Bernstein defeated David Pace in a quick 6-0, 6-3 set in the number-five position.
In the number-six position, Marcus Dornauf defeated Alex Pavlov 6-4, 7-6(7-2). In the number-two position, Mohinta was 1-1 against M. Pavlov and defeated him 6-4 in the third set to break a six-year losing streak over TAMUCC.
"Even though they (TAMUCC) are in our conference, this match doesn't count towards our conference record. Regardless, it is the first time we beat a team in top 40," said Gill. "As we get ready for the SLC Tournament, we have to go through them (TAMUCC) to make it to the NCAA Tournament. This win is a huge boost for us since it proves that we can beat a nationally ranked team."
The Broncs next travel to Arlington, Texas to face the Mavericks of UTA on Sunday, March 29.
UTPA 4, #39 TAMUCC 2
Singles competition:
1. Aswin Vijayaragavan (UTPA) def. Dmitry Novikov (AMCC) 6-3, 6-1
2. Nirvick Mohinta (UTPA) def. Mikhail Pavlov (AMCC) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. Laurent Montoisy (AMCC) def. Andrew Irving (UTPA) 6-1, 6-3
4. Jose Zunino (AMCC) vs. Brett Bernstein (UTPA) unfinished
5. Beau Bernstein (UTPA) def. David Pace (AMCC) 6-0, 6-3
6. Marcus Dornauf (UTPA) def. Alex Pavlov (AMCC) 6-4, 7-6(7-2)
Doubles competition:
1. Aswin Vijayaragavan/Brett Bernstein (UTPA) def. Mikhail Pavlov/Dmitry Novikov (AMCC) 8-6
2. Laurent Montoisy/Jose Zunino (AMCC) def. Nirvick Mohinta/Beau Bernstein (UTPA) 9-7
3. David Pace/Alex Pavlov (AMCC) def. Andrew Irving/Marcus Dornauf (UTPA) 8-4
UTPA Sports Information
