STILLWATER – It will be a homecoming for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's tennis head coach Nathan Robinson when his Vaqueros take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in a pair of road matches on Saturday at the Greenwood Tennis Center. 
 
Robinson, in his first year as the UTRGV coach, graduated from and coached at Oklahoma State, spending six years with the program. He'll be sporting a different team's orange when the Vaqueros (1-7) and Cowboys (4-5) face off at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday. 
 
"It's going to be a lot of fun. Looking forward to competing against the Pokes this time," Robinson said. "I think it's going to be good competition for us. It's stuff that we're not shying away from, playing these big schools." 
 
Four of the seven teams the Vaqueros have faced are ranked in the top 75 in NCAA Division I by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). Oklahoma State, ranked No. 67, will be the fifth. 
 
Oklahoma State has won both of the matchups between the two programs, taking the first 4-0 in March 2015 and the second 6-1 in Jan. 2017. Robinson believes UTRGV will have its chances to steal some ranked wins this go-round, particularly with reliable veterans junior Misha Kvantaliani and senior Carlo Izurieta leading the way in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. 
 
"We want to have our guys playing against these top-level players. It'll be a great opportunity to step on the court and compete their hardest and see where the chips fall," Robinson said. "We're getting extremely consistent performances from Misha and Carlo day in and day out. It's been a pleasure to see and I'm looking forward to seeing them continue to dig in and see where they can go." 
 
Weather won't be an issue since the matches will be played indoors due to cold temperatures. With the elements not factoring into competition, Robinson wants to see improvement in UTRGV's ability to control matches and the student-athletes enforcing their preferred game styles more consistently. 
 
"We're definitely focused on more commitment to our game style and trying to impose it better," Robinson said. "Misha and Carlo have done a great job of that and it's why we're seeing consistency from them. But the student-athletes in spots 3-6 have to get better at getting into their game styles and affecting their opponent." 
 
A major benefit UTRGV has seen from its multitude of matches against top-tier opponents has been mental resilience, Robinson said. He believes Saturday's doubleheader with the Cowboys will make the student-athletes mentally stronger, regardless of the outcomes. 
 
"They're playing a guy who is their level or just slightly better or just slightly lower but knows how to win. That's making us very strong," Robinson said. "We're not seeing the wins that we want to yet, but being able to come back to our courts and say, 'This was good,' or 'This needs to be strengthened up,' has been valuable for us."  

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