AUSTIN – There's no greater test than starting your spring season with a match against the No. 1 team in the country, and that's exactly why The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team is excited to do so. 
 
The Vaqueros will be taking on the top-ranked Texas Longhorns (2-0, 0-0 SEC) at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Texas Tennis Center. The Longhorns finished the last two seasons as the national runners-up and have reached the Final Four in four of the last five seasons. 
 
"It's a great opportunity to play that caliber of program. For our guys, it's a chance to go out there and compete with our game styles and see how our styles hang up against the No. 1 team in the country," head coach Nathan Robinson said. 
 
Redshirt junior and team captain Sam Whitehead and sophomore Ivo Isqueiro headline UTRGV's 2025 squad and will hold down spots in the top-half of the singles and doubles lineups. In the fall season, sophomore Santiago Serrano and freshman Eduardo Menezes teamed up to capture an 8-4 doubles victory over the Texas duo of Calvin Wang/Rahul Sachdev in a side match at the ITA Texas Regional. 
 
The Vaqueros know earning a team win will be a tall task, but the primary goal of the match is testing themselves against the top tier. The match gives UTRGV a chance to see how they need to improve before taking on teams of different levels and the lessons gained will be valuable down the stretch. 
 
"This is all about setting our eyesight. We're not going to see this level the rest of the year, so it's a good opportunity for our guys to put our game styles against the best in the country and see how well we stack up and what we need to do. When we step back a level a little bit, we're already prepared, the ball will slow down, what works will work easier, stuff like that," Robinson said. 

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