BEAUMONT – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team is back in action on Friday when it hits the road to take on Lamar University at 1 p.m. at the Thompson Family Tennis Center. 
 
UTRGV come right back on Saturday to face Southern Miss in a neutral site match at 10 a.m.
 
Opening Weekend
The Vaqueros opened the season on the road as they faced Our Lady of the Lake and Howard Payne at the Northside Tennis Center. UTRGV came away with 7-0 wins in both matches before falling to Louisiana 1-6 at home.  
 
It was nice to pick up a pair of victories as the squad continues to get back into game shape after not playing any since last March. 
 
"Our opening weekend was great," UTRGV head coach Dann Nelson said. "We had great weather. We played a doubleheader versus Our Lady of the Lake and Howard Payne University and it was a great way to kick things off. Our guys hadn't played in about 11 months so the name of the game right now is to get matches in and we were able to do that. We got a lot of matches in and we came home with two wins."
 
Keep Grinding
Even with two wins last weekend, coach Nelson and the Vaqueros know there is still work to be done in the early part of the season.
 
While the Vaqueros saw some good things last weekend, this week was spent on the things that needed some fine tuning. It's a continuous grind.
 
"I saw a lot of things that we needed to work on when we played Louisiana," Nelson said. "We did play a little shorthanded but we did take some good things from that match and some things we needed to work on. We focused on those things a little more this week to get ready for these matches this weekend."
 
WAC Honors
The doubles team of Alberto Mello and Te Kani Williams eared the team's first WAC honor of the season as they earned WAC Doubles Team of the Week. 
 
Mello and Williams went 2-0 over the weekend helping UTRGV earn the doubles point in its matches with Our Lady of the Lake and Howard Payne.
 
It was the first time the two have teamed up in doubles and their success over the weekend is a testament to their hard work.
 
"That's a team we don't normally put together but that first weekend we decided to use those two as a team," Nelson said. "They were able to come out of the weekend undefeated so it feels really good. Those two guys work so extremely hard and they are such a big part of what we do in our program and I am extremely happy that they were able to achieve that award."
 
Making a Debut
Redshirt freshman Luka Jankovic made his UTRGV debut last week and already is making an impact. 
 
Jankovic is 2-1 in both singles and doubles while playing in the No. 2 singles spot. He has teamed up with Zane Kohrs in doubles to play at the top spot in the lineup. 
 
"Luka Jankovic has been playing the No. 2 spot in singles and the No. 1 spot in doubles and he's a newcomer for us," Nelson said. "He's done a great job so far. He's working hard in practice and doing everything we ask him to do. He just loves being here and we love having him."
 
Playing Lamar

• Lamar is 2-2 on the season after defeating Prairie View A&M in a doubleheader on Jan. 28
• Lamar's two losses came against No. 15 Baylor and Rice.
• Brandon Do leads the team with a 3-1 record in singles while Do has teamed up with Bo Cautaerts to lead the team with a 2-0 doubles record. 
• UTRGV is 40-32 all-time against Lamar in a series that dates back to 1958.
• UTRGV won last season's match up 5-2 at home. 

 
Playing Texas Lutheran

• Texas Lutheran will kick off its season when it faces UTRGV on Saturday. 
• UTRGV is 10-1 all-time against Texas Lutheran in a series that dates back to 1957.
• The last time these two programs faced each other came in 2001. 

 
Upcoming Schedule

• Feb. 9 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – 12 p.m.
• Feb. 19-20 @ H-E-B Tournament of Champions – TBD
• Feb. 27 @ Rice – 10 a.m.
• Feb. 28 @ Texas A&M – 5 p.m.
• Mar. 1 @ Mary Hardin-Baylor – 9 a.m.

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