STILLWATER – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team was defeated 0-7 by the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Cowboys at the Greenwood Tennis Center indoor courts in the opener of a Saturday doubleheader.  
 
Oklahoma State (5-5) won the No. 3 and No. 2 doubles matches to take the 1-0 lead. The No. 1 UTRGV (1-8) duo of juniors Misha Kvantaliani and George Hutchings was exchanging blows with OSU's No.1 pair of Joseph Chen/Seb Nothhaft to a 5-5 tie, but the match went unfinished when the doubles point was secured. 
 
The Cowboys clinched the match victory with singles wins at No. 5, No. 4 and No. 1. 
 
UTRGV senior Alberto Mello was the only Vaqueros student-athlete to claim a first-set victory, defeating Chen 6-2 in the No. 6 spot. Mello was extremely competitive throughout his match, rallying back from down 0-3 in his second set to down 4-5 before falling 4-6. 
 
With the victory clinched for the Cowboys, Mello's match went to a 10-point tiebreaker in the third. Mello jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but Chen fought back to tie at 7-7 and won the final four points to win 10-7. 
 
Senior Carlo Izurieta and Hutchings battled well in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots for UTRGV. Hutchings swapped game wins in his second set against Max Verboven, but Verboven came away with the win to make it 5-0 in favor of OSU. 
 
Izurieta pushed the second set of his match against Nothhaft to extra frames after fighting to a 6-6 tie, but Nothhaft took the tiebreaker 7-2 to claim the straight-set win, making it 6-0. 
 
The Vaqueros and Cowboys will face off again at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Greenwood Tennis Center. 
 
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