STILLWATER, Okla. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team dropped its season opener 6-1 to the (RV) Oklahoma State (OSU) Cowboys Saturday at the Greenwood Tennis Center, but junior
Sam Whitehead earned a solid 6-3, 5-7, 6-0 singles win – his first against a Power Five opponent.
The Vaqueros (0-1) battled well in doubles, but the Cowboys (1-0) held the 1-0 lead after the opening session. OSU took the match on court three then secured the doubles point on court two despite a solid comeback effort from the freshmen duo of
Paolo Bonaguro and
Ivo Isqueiro.
Senior
Emilien Burnel and Whitehead looked impressive at No. 1 doubles, taking a 5-3 lead before OSU's top duo of
Tyler Zink and
Alex Garcia clawed their way back to a 6-5 advantage. Burnel/Whitehead made clutch plays to tie the match at 6-6 and force the tiebreaker. The Vaqueros used great returns to create momentum early in the tiebreaker, then Burnel delivered some massive serves to spark a scoring run and keep things tight. Zink/Garcia clinched the match, 8:6, with strong serving.
Oklahoma State extended the lead to 2-0 with a quick singles win on court four. Freshman
Santiago Serrano was competitive in his collegiate debut but fell on court three, making it 3-0 Cowboys. Bonaguro showed good fight at No. 6 but fell in straight sets and OSU clinched the victory, 4-0.
Burnel was competitive at No. 1 against Zink, the #18 ranked singles player, but Zink held him off to get the win. Sophomore McAllen Memorial alum
Agustin Salazar played well on court two, forcing the first set of his match against Garcia to an extra game before falling in straight sets, extending OSU's lead to 6-0.
Whitehead picked up a nice 6-3 win in the first set of his No. 5 match against
Francisco Pini. The second set went back-and-forth as Whitehead played gritty tennis trying to get the Vaqueros on the board. He battled back from down 3-5 to tie at 5-all, but Pini took the set 7-5 to force a third.
Whitehead was on fire in the third set, using tough serves and a smart mix of shots to earn a 6-0 victory. The big junior covered the court well and attacked the net to keep his opponent off-balance and prevented any scoring spurts by ripping sharp angled shots and dropping over smart looks.
UTRGV will be back in action at the Greenwood Tennis Center Sunday at 9 a.m. for a match against Omaha.
UTRGV Results
Doubles (3, 2, 1)
1. Tyler Zink/Alex Garcia (OSU) def.
Emilien Burnel/
Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) 7-6 (8:6)
2. Leighton Allen/Erik Schiessl (OSU) def.
Paolo Bonaguro/
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) 6-4
3. Alessio Basile/Carl Roothman (OSU) def.
Agustin Salazar/
Santiago Serrano (UTRGV) 6-1
Singles (4, 3, 6, 1, 2, 5)
1. #18 Tyler Zink (OSU) def.
Emilien Burnel (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-3
2. Alex Garcia (OSU) def.
Agustin Salazar (UTRGV) 7-5, 6-1
3. Alessio Basile (OSU) def.
Santiago Serrano (UTRGV) 6-4, 6-2
4. Erik Schiessl (OSU) def.
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) 6-1, 6-1
5.
Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) def. Francisco Pini (OSU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-0
6. Carl Roothman (OSU) def.
Paolo Bonaguro (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-2
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