RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The Vaqueros walked on to the courts with a program record crowd of 416 fans and 84 children in attendance in their 6-1 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks Saturday at H-E-B Tennis Center in Harlingen.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's tennis program opened the match on fire as the duo of junior
Will Roberts and graduate student
Sam Whitehead picked up a dominant 6-2 victory on court two. Meanwhile, Arkansas took the set on court one to force a winner-take-all for the doubles point on court three.
With over 400 fans packed inside the walkway beside court three, the Chilean duo of junior
Santiago Serrano and sophomore
Loic Young Kriegel went back and forth with the Razorbacks' duo of
Gabriel Elicha and
Lukas Palovic. With the match tied at 5-5, Serrano and Young took control to give the Vaqueros the doubles point and a 1-0 advantage headed into singles.
Prior to the match, the Vaqueros along with the women's tennis program hosted a free junior clinic for children enrolled in grades 5-10. The group of 84 children were able to enjoy learning from Division I athletes and watch a stellar matchup between UTRGV and Arkansas. This was the first time UTRGV hosted a school from the Southeastern Conference since 1979.
The Razorbacks cooled off the Vaqueros momentum in singles, earning straight set wins across the board.
On court one, Whitehead battled in the first set against Palovic, pushing the set to 6-4 before falling 6-2 in the second.
On court four, Roberts pushed Arkansas'
Dmitry Kopilevich in a 6-4, 6-3 battle while sophomore
Tsz Him "Michael" Chan went down 6-2 in the first before battling back and challenging
Eric Padgham to a 6-4 finish in the second on court six.
The Vaqueros return to the H-E-B Tennis Center Sunday to take on Rice at 11 a.m. The match is free and open to the public. The match will also be streamed live on
ESPN+ and fans can follow along through
StatBroadcast.
Results
Doubles (1, 2, 3)
1. #67 Eric Padgham/Ben Weintraub (Arkansas) def. Michael Chan/
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV), 6-1
2.
Will Roberts/
Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) def. Dmitry Kopilevich/Connor Smillie (Arkansas), 6-2
3.
Santiago Serrano/Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV) def. Gabriel Elicha Navas (Arkansas) 7-5
Singles (1, 3, 5, 4, 2, 6)
1.
Lukas Palovic (Arkansas) def. Sam Whitehead (UTRGV), 6-4, 6-2
2. #18 Jakub Vrba (Arkansas) def.
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV), 6-1, 6-3
3. Ben Weintraub (Arkansas) def.
Santiago Serrano (UTRGV), 6-1, 6-3
4. Dmitry Kopilevich (Arkansas) def.
Will Roberts (UTRGV), 6-4, 6-3
5. Gabriel Elicha (Arkansas) def.
Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV), 6-1, 6-1
6. Eric Padgham (Arkansas) def. Tsz Him Chan (UTRGV), 6-2, 6-4
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