BEAUMONT – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley men's tennis team fell 0-5 in a neutral site match to Southern Mississippi University on Saturday at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.

"We were a little flat in doubles and did not execute down the stretch," UTRGV head coach Dann Nelson said. "Yehonatan and Andres did a great job at No. 3 doubles. In singles, with the exception of Elliot, everyone started slower than we would have liked. We hope to execute better tomorrow."
 
UTRGV jumped out in front in the doubles matches as the team of Yehonatan Kaufman and Andres Hernandez picked up a 6-2 victory over Mikhail Esipov and Rakshit Rishi on court three. It was Southern Miss (5-2) who came away with the point after winning on courts two and one to grab the early 1-0 lead.
 
In singles, Southern Miss won on courts four, two and six to clinch the win and then added another point with a win on court three.
 
Junior Elliot Johnstone opened his match against Wen-Po Tseng with a 6-2 win in the first set before falling 4-6 in the second. His match was stopped when the match was clinched. Freshman Clément Sarradin opened his match with Teerdon Tortakul with a 6-2 win in the first before falling 3-6 in the second. Sarradin was leading 1-0 in the third set before the match was stopped.
 
UTRGV will be back in action on Sunday when they stay in Beaumont to face Lamar University at 12 p.m. at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
 
Singles (4,2,6,3)
1. Elliot Johnstone (UTRGV) vs. Wen-Po Tseng (USM) 6-2, 4-6 unfinished
2. Daniel Merker (USM) def. Koby Jansen (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-4
3. Chao-Yu Huang (USM) def. Yehonatan Kaufman (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-3
4. Jorman Reyes (USM) def. Mateo Schmit (UTRGV) 6-0, 6-3
5. Clement Sarradin (UTRGV) vs. Teeradon Tortrakul (USM) 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 unfinished
6. Rakshit Rishi (USM) def. Andres Hernandez (UTRGV) 6-1, 7-5
 
Doubles (3,2,1)
1. Jorman Reyes/Daniel Merker (USM) def. Elliot Johnstone/Clement Sarradin (UTRGV) 7-5
2. Wen-Po Tseng/Chao-Yu Huang (USM) def. Koby Jansen/Mateo Schmit (UTRGV) 6-3                  
3. Yehonatan Kaufman/Andres Hernandez (UTRGV) def. Mikhail Esipov/Rakshit Rishi (USM) 6-2

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