BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – Freshman
Santiago Serrano earned his first Power Five singles win Wednesday as The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team fell, 6-1, to the 12
th-ranked Texas A&M (TAMU) Aggies Wednesday at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
Serrano and the Vaqueros battled extremely tough against one of the top teams in the nation. After dropping the first set of his No. 4 match, 6-0, to
Kenner Taylor, Serrano came back with a vengeance to push a back-and-forth second set. He fell behind 5-3 then closed the frame strong to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. Serrano was solid as he took the decider, 7:4, to force a 10-point tiebreaker in the third set. He kept his momentum rolling, opening up a 5:2 lead before fighting off a comeback attempt from Taylor to take the set, 10:7, and get UTRGV (7-12) on the board.
TAMU (14-3) captured the doubles point with a 6-1 win on the third doubles court and a 6-3 win at No. 2. UTRGV's top duo of senior captain
Emilien Burnel and freshman
Ivo Isqueiro was fighting well, cutting their deficit to 4-5 at the changeover when the match went unfinished.
The Aggies clinched the victory with wins on the sixth, first and fifth singles courts and extended their lead to 5-0 after a win at No. 3, but the Vaqueros were tough on all courts. Isqueiro went toe-to-toe with
Grant Lothringer on the third court, and freshman
Paolo Bonaguro showed his resilience to make the second set of his No. 5 match tight.
Sophomore McAllen Memorial alum
Agustin Salazar gave
Brayden Michna all he could handle in the No. 2 match, briefly holding a lead in both sets before falling in a hard-fought match, 7-5, 6-4.
Up next for the Vaqueros is a match against North Dakota Friday at 4 p.m. at the Orville Cox Tennis Center. Admission is free and the community is encouraged to attend.
UTRGV Results
Doubles (3, 2)
1.
Emilien Burnel/
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) vs. Tiago Pires/Kenner Taylor (TAMU) 4-5, inc.
2. Grant Lothringer/Brayden Michna (TAMU) def.
Paolo Bonaguro/
Will Roberts (UTRGV) 6-3
3. Ethan Silva/Lathan Skrobarcek (TAMU) def.
Agustin Salazar/
Santiago Serrano (UTRGV) 6-1
Singles (6, 1, 5, 3, 4, 2)
1. #64 JC Roddick (TAMU) def.
Emilien Burnel (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-1
2. Brayden Michna (TAMU) def.
Agustin Salazar (UTRGV) 7-5, 6-4
3. Grant Lothringer (TAMU) def.
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-4
4.
Santiago Serrano (UTRGV) def. Kenner Taylor (TAMU) 0-6, 7-6 (7:4), 1-0 (10:7)
5. Lathan Skrobarcek (TAMU) def.
Paolo Bonaguro (UTRGV) 6-0, 7-5
6. Ethan Silva (TAMU) def.
Will Roberts (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-0
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