RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) announced on Tuesday that The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's tennis senior Chris Lawrance was named the TicketSmarter WAC Men's Tennis Singles Player of the Week.  
 
Lawrance picked up a super well-earned, important singles victory during UTRGV's lone match last week. The Vaqueros faced off with Lamar on Friday at the Orville Cox Tennis Center, but the start of the match was delayed for more than five hours due to the weather. Lawrance showed his mental toughness to stay focused as he waited his turn to begin his match in the No. 6 flight, then came out firing to take the first set 6-4 over Lamar's Haruki Omori-Cowie. 
 
The second set was a tightly contested back-and-forth affair, and Omori-Cowie won it slimly, 6-7 (3-7), to force a 10-point tiebreaker in the third. It was a crucial frame with Lamar holding a 3-2 advantage on the scoreboard. Lawrance needed a win to tie the match and force doubles play to keep UTRGV's hopes alive. The senior outlasted Omori-Cowie in the grueling, two hour and 20 minute long match, winning the tiebreaker 10-6. 
 
This is the first WAC award of Lawrance's career and the fourth recognition for the UTRGV men's tennis team in the 2022-23 season. Lawrance is 3-4 in singles this spring and finds himself in a four-way tie for the team lead with three victories. 
 
Lawrance and the Vaqueros (3-4) will be competing at the Louisiana Winter Classic this weekend starting with an 11 a.m. match against Abilene Christian on Friday. 

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