KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's tennis team starts off the final Western Athletic cluster of the season as they face the Chicago State University Cougars on Friday at 9 a.m. at the Plaza Tennis Center.
 
Last Time Out
The Vaqueros (10-12) closed out their home schedule with a 4-3 win over the Laredo Community College Palominos.
 
The Vaqueros dropped the doubles point to fall behind early in the match as they doubles team of Elliot Johhnstone and Andres Hernandez recorded the only doubles win.
 
UTRGV answered with four wins out of six courts. Johnstone started it off with a win on court four and then after Laredo Community College picked up another point on court two Koby Jansen answered with a win on court three.
 
Yehonatan Kaufman gave the Vaqueros the lead with a win on court five but the Palominos tied it at three points apiece with a win on court six.
 
It all came down to court one where Juan Cruz Soria, who battle cramps throughout the match, fought to extend the match to three sets before pulling out the victory to help seal the win for the Vaqueros.
  
Scouting the Cougars
The Cougars are 2-16 on the season after fall to Notre Dame in a doubleheader on April 3 as they lost 1-6 and 1-5.
 
The Cougars two wins came against Cardinal Stritch on Feb. 12 and Prairie State on Feb. 21. They are currently on a six-match losing streak.
 
Gabriel Niculescu leads the way for the Cougars and is coming off of being named WAC Tennis Athlete of the Week after picking up a pair of wins against Depaul and Notre Dame.
 
Christian Gonzalez and Gonzalo Martinez lead the Cougars with six singles wins. Five of Gonzalez' wins have come at the No. 4 spot while four of the six wins for Martinez have come at the No. 5 spot.
 
Gonzalez and Niculescu have team up to lead the Cougars in doubles as they have posted six singles wins with five of those wins coming at the No. 1 spot.
 
The All-Time Series
This is just the second meeting between the Vaqueros and the Cougars.
 
The Vaqueros picked up the 6-1 victory last year in their first ever meeting.
 
Globetrotters
The Vaqueros currently have eight student-athletes on the roster representing six different countries, including the Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Australia, Spain, Israel and Argentina.
 
Next Up
The Vaqueros close out the regular season against Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday at 9 a.m.
 
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