RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's tennis team opens the spring season with matches against Arkansas and Rice on Jan. 10 and 11, respectively, at the HEB Tennis Center in Harlingen as part of the 2026 spring schedule announced on Tuesday.
 
Two matches will be played on Jan. 10 as Arkansas and Rice will compete at 10 a.m. and the Vaqueros will open the spring season with a 5 p.m. duel against the Razorbacks. The following day, UTRGV will take on Rice at 10 a.m. on Jan. 11.
 
Last season, Arkansas ended the 2024-25 season ranked No. 43 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) end of year team rankings. Meanwhile, Rice ended the season ranked No. 47 and won the American Athletic Conference Championship to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament.
 
"It's a really awesome opportunity, not just for our team, but for the Valley to be able to host an SEC school like Arkansas and the American Champions in Rice, it's a great way for us to kick off our year," head men's tennis coach Nathan Robinson said. "We'll host it at the H-E-B Tennis Center in Harlingen, which is an amazing place to play and host. We're very thankful for Jay [Udwadia] at Arkansas and Efe [Ustentag] at Rice for agreeing to come down for these matches."
 
The Vaqueros will then head north to the Oklahoma for a four-match swing starting with a dual match at Oklahoma State on Jan. 17 before turning around for a match against St. Joesph's. The Vaqueros wrap up their visit to Stillwater with a match against St. Louis on Jan. 18 before visiting Tulsa on Jan. 19 to round out their Oklahoma road trip.
 
UTRGV will then head to Dallas to battle against Southern Methodist on Jan. 30 before traveling to Lubbock for a couple matches. UTRGV will face Texas Tech on Feb. 7 and compete against New Mexico State in a neutral site match on Feb. 8.
 
The Vaqueros will return to South Texas for a non-conference tilt and the first match of this year's South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Feb. 11.
 
UTRGV will then head to Idaho for a pair of matches, starting with Idaho on Feb. 13 and ending against UC San Diego on Feb. 14.
 
The Vaqueros will close out February with a Mississippi road swing as they visit Alcorn State on Feb. 27 and Jackson State on Feb. 28.
 
UTRGV will open March with a road trip to Maryland where they will visit Mount St. Mary's on March 7 and Morgan State on March 8.
 
The Vaqueros will return home for their first match at the Orville Cox Tennis Center as they enter Southland Conference (SLC) play in their second meeting with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on March 21. This will be the second match of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union.
 
UTRGV will then hit the road for the next two conference matches as they visit Lamar on March 28 and Incarnate Word on March 30.
 
The Vaqueros will close out SLC play with home matches against New Orleans on April 4 and Nicholls on April 6.
 
UTRGV will head to Waco for their regular season finale, starting with a neutral-site match against Abilene Christian and finishing up with a road match at Baylor on April 12.
 
This year, the top four teams will qualify for the SLC Championships which will run from April 20-21 at Lamar's facilities in Beaumont. The winner of the SLC Championships will automatically qualify for the NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament, which will begin on May 1.
 
"This is our typical competitive schedule that we love to play," Robinson said. "We get some Power Four schools sprinkled in, a bunch of 50/50 matches so we can see where our level is, and some fun travel spots, not just in Texas, but across the country. It's heavy in the front but then we have a long run of mid majors that will prepare us for the start of conference play."

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