EDINBURG – The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs men's tennis team kicks off Western Athletic Conference play when they face the Grand Canyon University Antelopes on Friday at the Orville Cox Tennis Center at 5:30 p.m.
 
It will be the first of three conference matches for the Broncs as they host the first men's tennis WAC Cluster of the season. The Orville Cox Tennis Center will play host to six conference matches throughout the weekend with the Broncs playing the last match each day. Admission is free and the public is welcomed to attend. The schedule for the weekend is as follows:
Friday
Kansas City vs. New Mexico State - 12 p.m.
UTPA vs. Grand Canyon - 5:30 p.m.
 
Saturday
Grand Canyon vs. Chicago State - 12 p.m.
UTPA vs. New Mexico State - 5:30 p.m.
 
Sunday
Grand Canyon vs. New Mexico State - 9:00 a.m.
UTPA vs. Kansas City - 1:30 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
The Broncs closed out a productive spring break with a 7-0 win over the No. 22 St. Edwards Hilltoppers.
 
The Hilltoppers are ranked 22nd in the Division II Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.
 
The Broncs (4-9) grabbed control of the match early as they picked up the doubles point. The duo of Miguel Alvarez-Hevia and Ethan Ammon defeated Davor Ivkovic and Sotiris Tsioumas 8-0 at No. 3 doubles. After picking up a victory over a ranked opponent earlier in the day, the team of Juan Cruz Soria and Koby Jansen recorded another victory as they defeated Felix Bake and Ricardo Pineda 8-6 at No. 1 doubles to clinch the point.
 
In singles, Hector Ramirez kept things rolling for the Broncs with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Pineda at No. 2 singles. Alvarez-Hevia followed with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Maximo Agoglia at No. 4 singles and then Elliot Johnstone added another point with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Tsioumas at No. 5 singles. Jansen added another win as he defeated Bake 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
 
Ethan Ammon won his first set 6-3 against Ivkovic at No. 6 singles and then dropped the second set 5-7 but closed out the match with a 10-8 victory in the tiebreaker. Soria closed out the scoring with a 5-7, 6-1, 10-7 win over Patrick Clynes at No. 1 singles to wrap up the match.
 
Not One, Not Two But Three Athletes of the Week
Hector Ramirez became the third Bronc to be named WAC Athlete of the Week this season after his performance last weekend.
 
Ramirez went 3-1 in singles last week, while playing all of his matches at the No. 2 position. Ramirez recorded a 6-0, 6-2 victory over No. 63 UT Arlington's Stefan Williams and then followed that with a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 10-7 victory over No. 8 Texas' Nick Naumann. He closed out his weekend with a 6-0, 6-3 win over St. Edwards' Ricardo Pineda for his third straight victory.
 
Koby Jansen earned the honor on February 24 and then Juan Cruz Soria was named athlete of the week on March 3.
 
Scouting the Antelopes
The Antelopes are 8-7 heading into the weekend. They are riding a four-match win streak after defeating Idaho State, Southern Utah, Seattle U and Portland State.
 
Adrian Legarreta leads the Antelopes with an 11-3 record. He is 11-1 at the No. 3 singles spot and is currently on an 11 match win streak. Felix Schueller is the other Antelope in double-digit victories as he sports a 10-3 record while mainly playing at No. 1 singles.
 
In doubles, Legarreta has teamed with Philip Kuehnen to post an 8-7 record while playing all of their matches at the No. 1 spot. Schueller has partnered with Alexander Roggenkamp this season to post a 9-5 record at the No. 2 spot while Meidy Chazeau and Gregoire Baleci have teamed to post an 8-3 record at the No. 3 spot.
 
The Series
The Broncs are 0-1 all-time against the Antelopes. The only time these two teams have faced each other was last season when the Antelopes defeated the Broncs 4-3 at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
 
Globetrotters
The Broncs have seven student-athletes representing six countries including, Argentina, Australia, Croatia, Mexico, Spain and Trinidad and Tobago.
 
Next Up
The Broncs continue conference play on Saturday as they face off against New Mexico State at 5:30 p.m. at the Orville Cox Tennis Center. 

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