HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley men's tennis team opens the spring dual match season on Saturday when they face Rice University at the George R. Brown Tennis Center at 11 a.m.
Last Time Out
UTRGV closed out the fall season at the ITA Regionals where
Elliot Johnstone and
Andres Hernandez picked up a doubles victory on the first day.
Johnstone and Hernandez defeated Incarnate Word's duo of Nedim Ahmic and Zachary Heiden 8-7 in the first round before falling to Texas' team of Yuyo Ito and Harrison Scott in the second round.
Hernandez advanced to the quarterfinals in the consolation bracket before dropping a 4-6, 3-6 match to Abilene Christian's Bradley Gleason.
Scouting Rice
Rice is also opening their spring dual match season on Saturday. It is the first match of five straight home matches to start of the season. Rice will face Lamar at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Rice returns eight from last year's squad including senior David Warren who went 23-6 overall last season while going 17-3 in dual match play. Sophomore Jake Hansen returns after a freshman season that saw him go 22-6 overall and 14-3 in dual match play and Emanuel Llamas, who went 20-11 overall and 14-8 in dual matches, also returns for his sophomore season.
They also return their top doubles team of Tommy Bennett and David Warren, who were ranked 29
th in the ITA Doubles Rankings at the end of last season. The duo made it to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship falling in three sets to Tennesse's duo of Jack Schipanski and Luis Valero
Rice went 23-8 last season with 19 of those wins coming at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
The All-Time Series
UTRGV is 17-25 against Rice in a series that dates back to 1960. These two teams faced off last season and it was the then 33
rd ranked Rice team that came away with a 4-0 victory.
UTRGV last defeated Rice in 1979.
Making a Debut
UTRGV has a pair of freshman that will be making their collegiate debuts in Clément Sarradin and
Mateo Schmit. Both freshmen have hit the ground running since their arrival on campus earlier this month and will look to make an immediate impact.
Head coach
Dann Nelson will also be making his UTRGV spring coaching debut after spending the last 11 seasons at Southern Illinois University.
Next Up
UTRGV will be right back in action on Sunday when they face Prairie View A&M University at 10 a.m. at the Prairie View A&M Tennis Courts.
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