ABILENE –The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team dropped a tightly contested Western Athletic Conference (WAC) match 3-4 to the Grand Canyon (GCU) Antelopes on Saturday at Abilene Christian's Eager Tennis Pavilion.   
 
UTRGV's (5-15, 2-4 WAC) No. 3 duo of junior Chris Lawrance and freshman Sam Whitehead picked up a 6-2 doubles win, then GCU (5-14, 3-3 WAC) evened things up with a 6-4 win in the second flight. No. 1 Vaqueros duo of juniors Misha Kvantaliani and George Hutchings secured the 1-0 advantage with a 6-4 win in the No. 1 doubles flight.
 
The Lopes took a 3-1 lead with singles wins at No. 3, No. 6 and No. 5, heightening the importance of each remaining match. 
 
Kvantaliani and senior Carlo Izurieta each won the first set of their matches 6-4. Izurieta took the second set 6-3 in the No. 2 flight for a key win to make it 3-2. Kvantaliani went from trailing 1-4 in the second set in the No. 1 flight to winning the frame 7-5 to tie the match at 3-3. 
 
Senior Alberto Mello fought hard in the No. 4 match against GCU's Loic Van Zeggelaar, coming back from a 1-6 loss in the first set to take a tight second 7-5. Mello competed in the third, but Van Zeggelaar won the match with a 6-3 third to clinch the team victory for the Lopes. 
 
UTRGV heads to College Station to take on the No. 24 Texas A&M Aggies on Sunday at 6 p.m. 
 
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