LUBBOCK, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's tennis team rallied, but ultimately fell, 4-3 to the New Mexico State (NMSU) Aggies, 4-3, Sunday at the McLeod Tennis Center.
The Vaqueros battled in the doubles point with the Chilean duo of junior
Santiago Serrano and sophomore
Loic Young Kriegel finishing first on court three. A 6-3 dismantling which saw Serrano and Young hold crucial break points and convert on opportunities both at the net and the baseline. NMSU would win on courts one and two to take the doubles point.
In singles, NMSU pushed their lead to 3-0 with a straight-sets win on court four and a three-set showdown on court one. Then, the tide started to turn.
The Vaqueros started to pick up momentum, starting with the conclusion of a gauntlet on court three which saw Serrano earn a win over NMSU's
Tobias Wallin. Wallin seemed to have the first set won, up a break and leading 4-2 before Serrano stormed back to win four in a row to take it 6-4. Wallin responded, winning the second 6-1. In the third, the pair went back-and-forth, reaching 5-5 before Serrano broke Wallin and served it out to take the match with a 7-5 third set win.
One minute later, sophomore
Tsz Him "Michael" Chan wrapped up his match on court six. After a back-and-forth first set which saw NMSU's
Thomas Duforets scrape out a 7-5 win, Chan flipped the switch dominating the next two 6-1, 6-2 to extend the match.
Then, on court five, Young rallied back to win his marathon match. Young dropped the first set 6-1 before fighting through a tight second set. In that set, NMSU's
Matias Rojas broke Young and had a chance to serve for the match leading 5-4. Instead, Young broke back to even the set eventually going to a tiebreak. Young took the first six points of the tiebreak to secure a 7-1 win. Then, tied at 4-4 in the third, Young broke Rojas' serve to take a 5-4 lead and served out the match to even the team score at 3-3.
All eyes turned to court two, where junior
Ivo Isqueiro went the distance with NMSU's
Roko Stipetic. Isqueiro won a grueling first set which saw multiple breaks by both Isqueiro and Stipetic before reaching the tiebreaker. Tied 2-2 in the tiebreaker, Isqueiro rattled off four straight points to reach set point and eventually closed out a 7-3 win in the tiebreak. Stipetic took the second 6-2 and scraped out a tight third set, 7-5, to clinch the match for the Aggies.
The Vaqueros will rest for a few days before visiting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the first round of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union. This first match will be a non-conference matchup scheduled for 10 a.m.
Results
Doubles (3, 1, 2)
1. Holland Snell/Lance Urlaub (NMSU) def.
Will Roberts/
Sam Whitehead (UTRGV), 6-3
2. Tobias Wallin/Roko Stipetic (NMSU) vs.
Paolo Bonaguro/
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV), 6-4
3.
Santiago Serrano/Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV) def. Thomas Duforets/Matias Rojas (NMSU), 6-3
Singles (4, 1, 3, 6, 5, 2)
1.
Holland Snell (NMSU) def. Sam Whitehead (UTRGV), 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
2. Roko Stipetic (NMSU) def.
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV), 7-6 (7:3), 2-6, 5-7
3.
Santiago Serrano (UTRGV) def. Tobias Wallin (NMSU), 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
4. Lane Urlaub (NMSU) def.
Will Roberts (UTRGV), 6-3, 6-1
5.
Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV) def. Matias Rojas (NMSU), 1-6, 7-6 (7:1), 6-4
6. Tsz Him Chan (UTRGV) def. Thomas Duforets (NMSU), 7-5, 6-1, 6-2
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