EDINBURG – The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs men's tennis team (6-11, 0-1 Southland) resumes Southland Conference play when they host the University of New Orleans Privateers (6-6, 3-0 Southland) on Monday at 12:00 p.m. at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
 
Admission is free.
 
The Broncs
The Broncs have performed well in doubles this season, going 23-18 (.561) in dual play and holding winning records at No. 2 (10-5) and No. 3 (8-4). Ricardo Hopker and Chetan Panditi lead the Broncs with an 8-3 record, including 7-2 at No. 2 and 1-1 at No. 1. Victor Alves and Thomas-Orestis Panoulas are 7-4, including a 7-3 record at No. 3.
 
Scouting the Privateers
The Privateers lost their most recent dual by a 3-4 score to NAIA nationally-ranked opponent Xavier on Wednesday. The Privateers only contested victories came from Abdelrahman Zaki and David Malmgren at the No. 3 and No. 5 courts, respectively.
 
The win for Malmgren ended a two-dual losing streak and evened the sophomore's record at 3-3 for the spring. For Zaki, the victory was his second straight and improved the Egyptian's mark to 6-5.
 
Rui Silva is tied with Zaki for the team's top record at 6-5 with Vinay Kamineni and Lovro Curcjia also above .500 with matching 3-2 results to date during the dual campaign.
 
Series History
The Broncs are 5-6 all-time against the Privateers in a series dating back to 1982. The Broncs and Privateers were rained out last year with the scored tied at 2-2 in New Orleans. The Privateers swept through doubles, but Beau Bernstein and Ricardo Hopker won their singles matches before rain washed away the rest of the match.
 
Last Time Out
The Broncs beat Prairie View A&M 7-0 on Saturday, sweeping through doubles and then dominating singles.  The closest the Panthers came to winning a set in singles was at No. 3, where Chetan Panditi had to go to 7-5 to beat Ronald Chidzilkwe in the first set. Panditi took the second set 6-3 for the point. The Broncs won the other five matches in straight sets.
 
Freshmen Flare
Felix Hasselberg made his dual singles debut against Schreiner on March 2, winning 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6. Joseph Bishop played at No. 5 for the first time, winning 6-0, 6-1. The two teamed up in doubles, winning 8-1 at No. 3 in what was Bishop's dual doubles debut.
 
Awesome Alves
Junior Victor Alves got off to a hot start in dual play, going 2-1 in singles and 2-1 doubles over the Broncs' first four matches. Alves had a 4-0 weekend during the Broncs' first two home matches on Feb. 1 and 3, teaming with Panoulas to win twice at No. 3 doubles, and then picking up a win at No. 5 singles against Laredo Community College and at No. 6 against UTSA. Alves was the first to finish in singles both times. For his efforts, Alves earned Southland Conference Player of the Week honors.
 
Home Sweet Home
The Broncs are 4-2 at home this season with four matches remaining.
 
This is the most home matches the Broncs have had in a single season since the turn of the century.
 
Tough Schedule
The Broncs are challenging themselves this season and currently boast a schedule that includes eight matches against ranked opponents:
 
Division I ranked opponents (0-3):
1/16 @ No. 29 Texas Tech, L 1-6
1/27 @ No. 54 Rice, L 0-7
2/16 @ No. 18 Baylor, L 0-7
3/19 @ No. 46 Arkansas
4/20 @ No. 58 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
 
Division II ranked opponents (2-0):
3/1 vs. No. 48 St. Mary's, W 5-2
3/23 vs. No. 19 Incarnate Word, W 7-0
 
Junior College ranked opponents (1-0):
2/1 vs. No. 7 Laredo Community College, W 4-3
 
Globetrotters
The Broncs have eight student-athletes on the roster representing seven different countries, including the United States of America, Brazil, Belgium, Greece, India, Indonesia and Sweden. The lone American Bronc is Sanoja, who calls Mission home.
 
Next Up
The Broncs visit TCU on March 30 at 5:00 p.m.