RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis closed defeated Lamar University (LU) 5-2 on Wednesday at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
 
UTRGV (3-6) came out battling in doubles as the team of sophomore Samuel de Felipe Garcia and junior Michael Loyd found themselves trailing in their match against Brock Lauer and Axel Vila Antuna before coming back to win 6-4 at the No. 3 spot. 
 
After dropping the match at No. 1 doubles, the Vaqueros answered with a win at the No. 2 spot to clinch the point. Junior Zane Kohrs and sophomore George Hutchingswere trailing 3-6 against Blessing Benibo and Joshua Sundaram but rallied to win 7-6. 
 
Lamar (4-8) opened singles play with a win at the No. 1 spot but junior Alberto Mello answered with a 6-1 6-4 win over Joshua Taylor at the No. 6 spot to give UTRGV the 2-1 lead. 
 
Lamar picked up a win at No. 3 singles before Hutchings pulled out the 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 win over Sundaram at No. 4 singles. 
 
Kohrs clinched the win for UTRGV as he defeated Filippo Salsini at the No. 5 spot. Kohrs opened with a 6-4 win in the first set before falling 5-7 in the second. Kohrs closed out his match with a 6-4 win in the third. 
 
De Felipe Garcia, the reigning Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week, closed out the match with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 win over Carlos Paton Canal at the No. 2 spot for his fourth straight win. 
 
UTRGV will be back in action on Saturday when it hits the road to face Nicholls State that will kick off a four-match weekend. 
 
Complete Results
Singles (1,6,3,4,5,2)
1. Axel Vila Antuna (LU) def. Carlo Izurieta (UTRGV) 6-1, 6-2
2. Samuel de Felipe Garcia (UTRGV) def. Carlos Paton Canal (LU) 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4
3. Nicolas Mayr (LU) def. Te Kani Williams (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-3
4. George Hutchings (UTRGV) def. Joshua Sundaram (LU) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
5. Zane Kohrs (UTRGV) def. Filippo Salsini (LU) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
6. Alberto Mello (UTRGV) def. Joshua Taylor (LU) 6-1, 6-4
 
Doubles (3,1,2)
1. Nicolas Mayr/Carlos Paton Canal (LU) def. Carlo Izurieta/Alberto Mello (UTRGV) 6-4
2. Zane Kohrs/George Hutchings (UTRGV) def. Blessing Benibo/Joshua Sundaram (LU) 7-6 (6)
3. Michael Loyd/Samuel de Felipe Garcia (UTRGV) def. Brock Lauer/Axel Vila Antuna (LU) 6-4

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