COLLEGE STATION –The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team battled well but lost to the No. 24 Texas A&M (TAMU) Aggies 6-1 in a non-conference match Sunday at the Mitchell Tennis Center. 
 
UTRGV (5-16, 2-4 Western Athletic Conference) gave TAMU (21-10, 7-3 Southeastern Conference) all it could handle on the doubles courts. The Aggies edged out the doubles point with 6-4 wins in the first and third flights. 
 
The No. 2 duo of seniors Carlo Izurieta and Alberto Mello went toe-to-toe with TAMU's Rahul Dhokia and Stefan Storch, forcing a tiebreaker at 6-6. Dhokia/Storch held on for the 7-6 (7-3) win. 
 
The Aggies clinched the team victory 4-0 with singles wins at No. 6, No. 3 and No. 5. 
 
Izurieta and junior Misha Kvantaliani led the fight the Vaqueros brought to their sixth match against a ranked opponent. After dropping the first set of the No. 2 match 4-6, Izurieta was relentless to close out the match. He won the second set 7-5, forcing a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the winner against Mathis Bondaz. Izurieta held off a comeback attempt to secure his victory 1-0 (10-6). 
 
Kvantaliani also lost the first set in the top flight 6-4, then fought in the second to a 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. The deciding frame needed extra points to be won by Anish Sriniketh 9-7 to clinch the very competitive bout. 
 
Mello battled in the No. 4 match. After dropping the first 6-1, he held off Storch with the match on the line in the second. Storch took the win 6-3. 
 
UTRGV will play its final regular season match on Saturday at Prairie View A&M. The Vaqueros will be the No. 5 seed at the WAC Tournament in Beaumont which begins April 22.

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