Tournament Bracket | Live Scoring | Tournament Central

MESA, Ariz. – The fifth seeded University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's tennis team is set to face top-seeded UMKC on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Mesa Tennis Center for a spot in the championship match of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.  
 
Last Time Out
UTRGV (11-12) defeated Seattle U 4-1 in the first round of the WAC Tournament on Friday. The win advanced UTRGV to the semifinals.
 
UTRGV got out to the early lead as it won on doubles courts two and three. The duo of junior Yehonatan Kaufman and senior Elliot Johnstone picked up the 6-2 win over Trenton Nield and Adrian Sanabria on court two.
 
It was sophomore Clément Sarradin and freshman Zane Kohrs clinching the doubles point with a 6-4 win over Arshak Ghzaryan and Emilio Monroy on court three.
 
In singles, UTRGV picked up wins on courts four, one, and two to clinch the win.
 
Scouting UMKC
UMKC is 11-9 on the season and went 5-0 in WAC play to win the regular season championship.
 
UMKC came away with several awards at the WAC Tournament banquet on Thursday. Head coach Kendall Hale was named WAC Men's Coach of the Year while Diego Giraldo earned Freshman of the Year honors and also earning All-WAC First Team in singles.
 
Tom Kruse was named to the All-WAC First Team while also earning All-WAC First Team honors in doubles. Airam Castellanos was named to the All-WAC Second Team in singles while also earning All-WAC First Team honors in doubles with Alex Pozo. 
 
UMKC has four with double-digit wins in Giraldo, Kruse, Castellano, and Pozo. 
 
In doubles, Castellano and Pozo have posted a 12-5 record while Giraldo and Kruse posted a 9-8 record. 
 
The All-Time Series
UTRGV is 3-4 all-time against UMKC in a series that dates back to 2014.
 
UTRGV fell to UMKC 0-7 in the WAC Cluster this season. 
 
The last time UTRGV defeated UMKC came back on April 25, 2015 in the first round of the WAC Tournament in Kansas City. 
 
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
The winner of this match will face top-seeded UMKC on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Mesa Tennis Center.

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