KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's tennis team opens Western Athletic Conference play as it faces New Mexico State on Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Plaza Tennis Center.

Last Time Out
UTRGV (8-8) improved to .500 on the season with a 4-0 win over Prairie View A&M on Saturday in its final match of the UTRGV Spring Break Showdown.

It was the fourth straight win for UTRGV as it went 3-0 in the showdown with wins over Southern Utah and Oral Roberts.

UTRGV got things going in doubles as the team of Koby Jansen and Yehonatan Kaufman defeated Ulrick Boyogueno and Xavier Lawrence 6-0 on court one. Zane Kohrs and Clément Sarradin clinched the point with a 6-2 win over Anirudh Yadav and Rodrigo Yoshikata on court two.

In singles, UTRGV didn't let up as it won three straight matches without dropping a set. Kaufman picked up the 6-0, 6-1 win over Yadav on court three and then it was Sarradin on court four with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Zach Suico to make it 3-0.

Kohrs closed out the match with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Kevin Ugarteche on court five with all other matches stopping once match was clinched.

Back-to-Back Player of the Week
Yehonatan Kaufman was named the WAC Tennis Player of the Week after going 3-0 over the weekend. Kaufman picked up his fifth, sixth and seventh wins while helping UTRGV to a 3-0 weekend.

Kaufman made it back-to-back weeks that UTRGV earned the award after Koby Jansen earned the honor last week.

Scouting New Mexico State
New Mexico State is 9-6 on the season after falling 2-5 to Arizona on Saturday.

New Mexico State has posted wins against St. Mary's, Weber State, UC Riverside, UT Arlington, DePaul, and New Mexico.

As a team, New Mexico State is 43-35 in singles play in the dual match season with Louis Menard leading the way with a 9-1 record. Enrique Asmar and Sergi Espias have posted the team's second most wins with seven.

In doubles, New Mexico State has posted a 21-11 record with Mauri Benitez and Stijn de Haan leading the team with an 8-3 record. Menard and Asmar have posted a 7-1 record this season while playing at the No. 3 spot.

New Mexico State was picked to finish second in the WAC pre-conference coaches poll.

The All-Time Series
UTRGV is 3-8 all-time against New Mexico State in a series that dates back to 1975.

Both teams faced off last season as it was New Mexico State coming away with the 7-0 victory.

The last time UTRGV defeated New Mexico State came back in 1994.

Globetrotters
UTRGV currently has nine student-athletes on the roster representing five different countries, including the France (Dennis Boisseau, Clément Sarradin), United States (Jake Davidson, Zane Kohrs, Michael Loyd), Australia (Koby Jansen, Elliot Johnstone), Israel (Yehonatan Kaufman), and Argentina (Mateo Schmit).

Next Up
UTRGV will be back in action on Friday when it takes on Grand Canyon at 9 a.m. in its second WAC match of the season.

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