BEAUMONT – The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs men's tennis team dropped their neutral site match to the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles 2-5 on Saturday at the Thompson Family Tennis Center, located on the campus of Lamar University.
 
The Broncs (2-5) grabbed the early advantage in doubles as the team of Juan Cruz Soria and Nikola Crvelin defeated the duo of Alex Doleac and Brad Marriott 6-1 at the No. 2 position. The Broncs had their opportunities on courts one and three but the Golden Eagles (7-3) won both matches to clinch the doubles point.
 
"It stings a bit when you donate the doubles point against a good team," Broncs head coach Brandon Stokes said. "We were in control of the doubles point for most of the day. Give credit to Southern Mississippi for making the plays we did not make."
 
In singles, Alvarez-Hevia got the Broncs on the board with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Mikhail Esipov at the No. 4 position. The Golden Eagles responded with wins on court one, five, and six to clinch the match.
 
Soria got another point for the Broncs after he defeated Tarun Surat 6-3, 4-6, 10-3 at the No. 2 position before the Golden Eagles closed out the match with a win on court three.
 
"We are learning and the process is in place," Stokes said. "We must go deeper in ourselves to be honest about our strengths and the areas to improve. We will be better tomorrow against Lamar. The energy and spirit of this team is resilient and relentless. We will improve."
 
The Broncs are back at it on Sunday when they close out the weekend against the Lamar Cardinals at 10 a.m.
 
Complete Results:
Doubles (2,3,1)
1. Wen-Po Tseng/Chao-Yu Huang (USM) def. Hector Ramirez/Koby Jansen (UTPA) 7-5
2. Juan Cruz Soria/Nikola Crvelin (UTPA) def. Alex Doleac/Brad Marriott (USM) 6-1
3. Daniel Merker/Mikhail Esipov (USM) def. Ethan Ammon/Miguel Alvarez-Hevia (UTPA) 7-5
 
Singles (4,1,5,6,2,3)           
1. Wen-Po Tseng (USM) def. Hector Ramirez (UTPA) 7-5, 6-3
2. Juan Cruz Soria (UTPA) def. Tarun Surat (USM) 6-3, 4-6, 10-3
3. Chao-Yu Huang (USM) def. Koby Jansen (UTPA) 7-5, 7-6 (3)
4. Miguel Alvarez-Hevia (UTPA) def. Mikhail Esipov (USM) 6-0, 6-3
5. Alex Doleac (USM) def. Nikola Crvelin (UTPA) 6-3, 6-1
6. Brad Marriott (USM) def. Ethan Ammon (UTPA) 7-6 (4), 6-2

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