LAFAYETTE, LA – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team is heading to Louisiana for a pair of road matches this weekend.  
 
UTRGV (1-9) will face the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (ULL) Ragin' Cajuns (13-1), who are ranked No. 38 by the ITA, at 4 p.m. on Friday and the Nicholls State Colonels (6-5) at 2 p.m. Saturday. Both matches will be played at ULL's Cajun Courts. 
 
"Louisiana has had a great year and some really good wins. We got to play some of their guys in the fall, got a good look at who they have on their roster. It's a good chance for a road ranked opponent. Going to be a lot of fun, our guys are excited," UTRGV head coach Nathan Robinson said. "We'll turn around the next day and play Nicholls. It's a great opportunity for our guys to get back out there as we make this final push before going into conference play." 
 
ULL has won all 11 matches between the Ragin' Cajuns and the Vaqueros. ULL picked up a 6-1 win when they last faced off in Jan. 2021. The all-time series between UTRGV and Nicholls is tied at 8-8. The Vaqueros have dropped the last two matches between programs, but both were played very tight to a 4-3 final. 

UTRGV veterans junior Misha Kvantaliani and senior Carlo Izurieta have been as dependable as can be in the top two flights. Robinson believes the rest of the lineup – juniors George Hutchings and Chris Lawrance, freshman Sam Whitehead and senior Alberto Mello – has been consistently progressing.
 
The Vaqueros haven't picked up many wins, but they've been competitive in every match. They've been playing a lot of ranked and talented teams, which Robinson believes has taught them a lot about how close they are to playing at an elite level. UTRGV will look to take that next step this weekend to gain some momentum as Western Athletic Conference play approaches. 
 
"Can't say enough about what Chris and Sam have been doing. They've been working really hard, putting in a lot of time and effort. We've seen it on the doubles court already. They're right there getting ready to turn the corner," Robinson said. "And George, I think he's right there, too. Same with Alberto. We saw him at Oklahoma State push a guy to the brink down at 6, so I think we have three or four guys who haven't been getting wins but have been really, really close and it's just a matter of them closing that door.
 
"The biggest thing we learned at Oklahoma State is we're a lot closer than the guys believe they actually are. We see the level that we have. We're getting to that point of the season where we're seeing consistency come back up, we're seeing our matches get closer and closer and closer. Now it's just a matter of us believing it and making that shift." 

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