DALLAS – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis program is set to face Southern Methodist (SMU) at 1 p.m. Friday at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex.
Last Time Out
The Vaqueros are coming off a 1-3 weekend which saw the Vaqueros battle some adversity but capture valuable learning experiences as well as their first win of the season against Saint Louis (SLU).
Doubles remain a strength for the Vaqueros as they went 6-4 overall last weekend, earning the doubles point in two of their four matches. At the number one court, graduate student
Sam Whitehead and junior
Will Roberts picked up a ranked win, defeating the No. 70 duo of
Othman Bezzaz and
Ernesto Ruy from Saint Joseph's (SJU). They also earned the Vaqueros lone win against Oklahoma State (OSU).
UTRGV tested a new duo on the number two court, pairing juniors
Paolo Bonaguro and
Ivo Isqueiro together. That duo went 2-1 on the weekend, defeating pairs from SLU and Tulsa. At court three, the Chilean duo of
Santiago Serrano and
Loic Young Kriegel picked up a win against SJU to seal the doubles point.
In singles, Whitehead continues to show his grit and determination at number one, besting SJU's Bezzaz in a comeback three-set victory, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. He also pushed OSU's
Ian Bracks to a third set, falling 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
On court six, Bonaguro earned his first win of the spring, a three-set battle, to clinch the Vaqueros win over SLU, defeating
Valentin Vazquez 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
Scouting the Mustangs
The Vaqueros will take on the Mustangs for the fourth consecutive season. UTRGV is 1-19 all-time against SMU with its lone win coming in 1977.
Last time the Vaqueros matched up with the Mustangs, SMU won 7-0 with the Vaqueros earning a doubles win on court three and Whitehead pushing No. 94
Jerry Barton to a third-set tiebreaker.
SMU, a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, is currently 2-2 on the season with a pair of 6-1 wins over fellow Southland Conference member Lamar and Louisiana.
This season, SMU is home to the No. 2 ranked singles player in the country,
Trevor Svajda. Svajda is 14-3 on the season with his last loss coming against the No. 1 ranked
Michael Zheng in the NCAA Men's Singles Championship match. His last six wins have come in straight sets.
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