DALLAS – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team fell to the SMU Mustangs 6-1 on Saturday at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex. 
 
SMU (4-1) picked up 6-3 and 6-0 wins in the second and third doubles flights, respectively, to take the 1-0 lead. Junior Emilien Burnel and sophomore Sam Whitehead were competing well in the No. 1 flight, but the match was stopped tied 5-5 when the Mustangs claimed the doubles point. 
 
SMU clinched the victory with singles wins in the third, fourth and fifth flights, and added another win on court two. 
 
UTRGV (3-3) battled despite the team victory being out of reach. Senior Chris Lawrance pushed the second set of his No. 6 match to extra games, but SMU's Alex Stafford held on for the 6-2, 7-5 win. 
 
Burnel outdueled SMU's Pranav Kumar in the No. 1 flight to put the Vaqueros on the board. Kumar won the first set 7-6 (7-5), then Burnel came fighting back to take the second 6-4. The third set was played as a 10-point tiebreaker, and Burnel started hot to take a 3-0 lead. Trailing 9-5 in the frame, Burnel went on a roll to retake the lead 10-9 before Kumar went back on top 11-10. Burnel used a big serve and showed off his athleticism to close out the tiebreaker and win the match, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0 (13-11). 
 
UTRGV will return home for its next match Jan. 27 at 10 a.m. against Lamar at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
 
Complete Results
Singles (3, 4, 5, 2, 6, 1) 
1. Emilien Burnel (UTRGV) def. Pranav Kumar (SMU) 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0 (11) 
2. Antonio Muniz-Hidalgo (SMU) def. Karlo Krolo (UTRGV) 6-4, 6-4 
3. Liam Krall (SMU) def. Borna Devald (UTRGV) 4-1, ret. 
4. Julian Steinhausen (SMU) def. Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-1 
5. Louis Cloud (SMU) def. Agustin Salazar (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-3 
6. Alex Stafford (SMU) def. Chris Lawrance (UTRGV) 6-2, 7-5 
 
Doubles (3, 2) 
1. Emilien Burnel/Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) vs. Adam Neff/Pranav Kumar (SMU) 5-5, inc. 
2. Julian Steinhausen/Jack Winkler (SMU) def. Borna Devald/Karlo Krolo (UTRGV) 6-3 
3. Antonio Muniz-Hidalgo/Liam Krall (SMU) def. Chris Lawrance/Agustin Salazar (UTRGV) 6-0 

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