HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis team is set to face Rice at 2 p.m. Friday at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. 
 
The match was originally scheduled to be played Saturday morning, but due to expected inclement weather, the Rice Owls rearranged their season-opening weekend. This will be the 48^th meeting between the schools in a series dating back to 1960. 
 
UTRGV (0-1) and Rice (0-0) haven't played each other since 2022. The Owls won that match, 7-0, at home. UTRGV's last win in the series was a 4-3 match in Houston in 2018. Rice has won three in a row against the Vaqueros. 
 
The Vaqueros got their spring season started Wednesday with a tough test at No. 1 Texas. Despite losing, 7-0, UTRGV showed a lot of potential and battled on the courts. Redshirt junior Sam Whitehead won the first set of his No. 2 singles match but was defeated in a third set 10-point tiebreaker. The No. 3 doubles duo of sophomore Will Roberts and freshman Eduardo Menezes took their match to the brink before falling 7-5. 
 
Head coach Nathan Robinson said the early streak of road matches his team is taking on to start the spring season will give them a chance to test and adapt their game styles. The Vaqueros are looking forward to implementing some of what they learned against the top-ranked team in the nation to make a run at Rice. 

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