RIO GRANDE VALLEY – It had been 328 days since The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team had competed on court and the 2021 spring season brought back excitement and an opportunity to get back to some normalcy. 

The Vaqueros' last match heading into the 2021 spring season came against Incarnate Word back on March 6, 2020, so it was no surprise that they were itching to get the season started. 
 
That excitement carried onto the court to kick off the season as the Vaqueros opened with a pair of sweeps over Our Lady of the Lake and Howard Payne. The Vaqueros added another win against Texas Lutheran a few days later. 
 
The Vaqueros knew it would be a tough trek through the schedule facing the likes of Louisiana, Lamar, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Troy, UTSA, Rice, and you can't forget the 10^th ranked Texas A&M, but that didn't stop them from putting in the hard work each day. 
 
Some of that hard work paid off as the Vaqueros earned some weekly honors from the Western Athletic Conference. The Vaqueros combined to earn six WAC Singles Player of the Week or Doubles Team of the Week honors while sweeping both categories twice. 
 
Alberto Mello and Te Kani Williams earned the first WAC Doubles Team of the Week for their performance in the opening weekend. 
 
The Vaqueros had their first sweep of the WAC honors as Mateo Schmit earned singles player of the week and Zanke Kohrs and Luka Jankovic took the doubles team of the week honors for their performances against Lamar and Texas Lutheran. 
 
The following week, Kohrs and Jankovic took the WAC Doubles Team of the Week yet again.
 
Later in the season, Samuel de Felipe Garcia was part of the other Vaqueros' sweep as he earned WAC Singles Player of the Week while teaming up with Carlo Izurieta to earn Doubles Team of the Week for their performances against Prairie View A&M.  
 
Not only did the Vaqueros put in the hard work on the court but in the classroom as well. With the COVID-19 Pandemic affecting all aspects of athletics, student-athletes had to adjust to remote learning. 
 
The Vaqueros didn't miss a beat as they had seven honor roll recipients, three of which made the Dean's List, and two others had 4.0 grade point averages. Four student-athletes, in Carlo Izurieta, Zane Kohrs, Mateo Schmit, and Te Kani Williams, also earned Academic All-WAC honors. 
 
The 2021 spring season provided different opportunities. It provided a chance to start anew while it also provided a chance to close things out. 
 
Luka Jankovic had an opportunity to start anew as he came to the program from Drake University. Jankovic slid into the starting lineup playing all of his matches in the top half of the Vaqueros line up this season. 
 
On the other side of it, the season allowed some, like Mateo Schmit, to put the final touches on his collegiate career. Schmit joined the Vaqueros as a freshman in 2016 and after having his senior season cut short in 2020, he had the opportunity for one final ride. 
 
The Vaqueros gave everything they had in the 2021 spring season, both on and off the court. 
 
No matter how the season may have ended, no one can take that away from them. 
 
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