PRAIRIE VIEW – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team is looking for a momentum-building win as it travels to take on the Prairie View A&M (PVAMU) Panthers in the regular season finale on Saturday. 
 
The Vaqueros (5-16, 2-4 Western Athletic Conference) and Panthers (2-21) will face off at 10 a.m. at the PVAMU Tennis Complex. UTRGV head coach Nathan Robinson said the team got a little banged up during its three-match road trip last weekend, but he expects to see continued growth and some good wins to build confidence ahead of the WAC Tournament which begins on April 22. 
 
"It's a Division I school, so it's going to be a fight," Robinson said. "We want to go 7-0. Win the doubles point and win all six singles, that's always our expectation. Looking to hopefully get some of these guys that have been struggling another win and a little bit of confidence going into the conference tournament. We've had good practices and I'm excited to see how we come out against Prairie View." 
 
UTRGV faced its sixth ranked opponent of the season last weekend. Though the Vaqueros lost 1-6 to No. 24 Texas A&M, they were extremely competitive in doubles and at the top of the singles lineup. 
 
Senior Carlo Izurieta earned a win at No. 2 singles against the Aggies, marking UTRGV's first win against a Power Five opponent since 2017. He has won his last two singles matches. Junior Misha Kvantaliani was solid in the final WAC cluster last weekend, winning both of his No. 1 singles matches and both doubles matches with junior George Hutchings in the top flight. The No. 3 duo of freshman Sam Whitehead and junior Chris Lawrance also went 2-0 in WAC doubles matches over the weekend. 
 
The Vaqueros want to keep that success building against the Panthers to be riding high into conference. 
 
"Carlo did a great job. You can't say enough about that guy. That was a huge win for him and a huge win for us," Robinson said. "We showed that if we show up and do what we do best, it translates to every level. Hopefully we can keep some of that momentum going." 

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