RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's tennis team defeated the University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) Falcons, 5-2, Thursday at Orville Cox Tennis Center.
The two teams played four doubles matches, with the fourth court counting as an exhibition. The Vaqueros sweeped the doubles matches with dominant wins on all four courts. The first match to end was on court two where the duo of sophomore
Mariia Bakhtina and junior
Hitakamya Narwal earned a swift 6-0 win. The duo of sophomore
Luna Buijtenhuijs and senior
Yaiza Vazquez clinched the doubles point with a 6-1 win on court three.
Meanwhile, junior
Rhea Makesar and graduate student
Barbara Martinez picked up a 6-2 win on court one to solidify the sweep. And on court four, junior
Giuliana Castelain and senior
Valentina Urraco dominated in a 6-0 win on the exhibition court.
Entering singles play with a 1-0 lead, the Vaqueros continued to dominate. The first to finish was Martinez on court one. Martinez jumped out to an emphatic 5-0 first set lead, which included three breaks, before winning 6-1. In the second, her opponent
Fanny Bergstrom took an early 3-1 lead. However, Martinez bounced back, winning five straight games to take the match with a 6-3 win.
The next match to finish was court four. Bakhtina cruised to a dominant 6-0 win over
Mattea Bowe in the first set. Bowe broke Bakhtina's serve to open the second set. Bakhtina returned the favor to knot the match at 2-2. Then, with a 5-4 lead in the second set, Bakhtina broke Bowe's serve without allowing a single point to claim a 6-4 win.
Urraco clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win on court five. Urraco and
Alyssa Glasgow were tied at 1-1 in the first before Urraco won five in a row to win the first 6-1. Glasgow jumped out to a quick 3-0 advantage in the second before Urraco turned in six straight games to clinch the match for the Vaqueros.
Then, the Falcons picked up wins on courts two and six to make the overall score 4-2.
The final match of the day, on court three, went to a deciding 10-point tiebreaker. Makesar and
Sophia Rashid played long points, often seeing rallies of over eight shots. That created a tense and long environment as their 6-2 set, in favor of Makesar, was the last first set to finish. In similar fashion, Rashid earned a 6-2 second set win, once again the longest of the day. In the tiebreaker, the opponents switched at 3-3 and 7-5, in favor of Makesar, proving the intensity of the match. Then, Makesar flipped the switch winning three of the final four points to clinch the match and a 5-2 win for UTRGV.
The Vaqueros will hit the road for a neutral site matchup with a familiar foe in Tarleton. They will meet at Austin Tennis Center for their match Sunday at 5 p.m.
Results
Doubles (2, 3, 1)
1.
Rhea Makesar/
Barbara Martinez (UTRGV) def. Fanny Bergstrom/Sophia Rashid (UTPB), 6-2
2.
Mariia Bakhtina/
Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV) def. Mattea Bowe/Dinethya Dharmaratne (UTPB), 6-0
3.
Luna Buijtenhuijs/Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) def. Alyssa Glasgow/Paige Sitanggang (UTPB), 6-1
4 (exhibition). Giuliana Castelain/Valentina Urraco (UTRGV) def. Sophia Crosby/Peyton Jones (UTPB), 6-0
Singles (1, 4, 5, 6, 2, 3)
1.
Barbara Martinez (UTRGV) def. Fanny Bergstrom (UTPB), 6-1, 6-3
2. Dinethya Dharmaratne (UTPB) def.
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV), 6-2, 6-3
3.
Rhea Makesar (UTRGV) def. Sophia Rashid (UTPB), 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10:6)
4.
Mariia Bakhtina (UTRGV) def. Mattea Bowe (UTPB), 6-0, 6-4
5.
Valentina Urraco (UTRGV) def. Alyssa Glasgow (UTPB), 6-1, 6-3
6. Paige Sitanggang (UTPB) def.
Giuliana Castelain (UTRGV), 6-2, 6-2
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