RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) rallied back to defeat the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) Islanders in a 4-3 thriller Saturday at Orville Cox Tennis Center. The UTRGV win clinched the department's second-ever South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, with the last one coming during the 2022-23 school year.
This is the program's first win over TAMUCC since 2023, a 4-3 win in Edinburg. This is also the first time in program history that both the men's and women's tennis programs defeated TAMUCC on the same day.
The win marks a monumental victory over the defending regular season Southland Conference (SLC) champions. A championship decided between these two squads on the final day of conference play last season in Corpus Christi.
You could hear a pin drop as the Islanders took a 3-2 advantage, but an overwhelming sense of calm arose at the Orville Cox Tennis Center as the final matches came to a close.
On court two, junior
Ivo Isqueiro completed his comeback, a hard-fought 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 affair. In the final set, Isqueiro broke
Omar Suarez three times to take the third set comfortably. The first came at 0-0, then 2-1, then again at 4-2. Isqueiro answered the call every time to knot the match at 3-3.
Meanwhile, on court six
Tsz Him Chan was in a 1-1 tie in his third set with
Mikel Garrmendia. Chan, fueled by the roar of the Vaqueros one court over, cruised. It started in that game as Chan won a tough deuce point to go up 2-1. Then a quick break made it 3-1. Chan, looking to solidify his break, went down 0-15 before rattling off back-to-back aces and winning every point the rest of the game to go 4-1. He dominated the rest of the way winning 6-1 and clinching the historic victory for UTRGV.
UTRGV picked up the first point of the afternoon, grinding out an intense doubles session with wins on courts one and two. On court one, the duo of graduate student
Sam Whitehead and
Loic Young Kriegel found themselves in a 3-0 hole early before coming back to tie the match at 4-4. Whitehead and Young broke to go up 5-4 and served out the match, winning 6-4.
On court two, Isqueiro and junior
Santiago Serrano found themselves in a grueling duel that went to a seventh game. Isqueiro and Serrano trailed 5-4 before rattling off three consecutive games to secure the 7-5 win and the doubles point for UTRGV.
In singles action, Whitehead evened up the team score with a dominant 6-2, 6-4 performance on court one. Whitehead jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and traded games the rest of the way to win 6-2. In the second, Whitehead and his opponent
Nicolas Niox Chateau traded games until 4-3. In the eighth game of the set, Whitehead broke through to take a 5-3 advantage. However, Niox bounced back with a break of his own, to make it 5-4. It was Whitehead who had the last laugh, breaking to win the set and the match.
UTRGV is headed to Lamar for the next round of Southland Conference play on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Results
Doubles (1, 2, 3)
1.
Sam Whitehead/
Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV) def. Matthieu Coignet/Mikel Garmendia (TAMUCC), 6-4
2.
Ivo Isqueiro/
Santiago Serrano (UTRGV) def. Etienne Marty/Omar Suarez (TAMUCC), 7-5
3.
Ethan Dasset/Josef Zapletal (TAMUCC) def. Paolo Bonaguro/Tsz Him Chan (UTRGV), 7-5
Singles (4, 5, 1, 3, 2, 6)
1.
Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) def. Nicholas Niox Chateau (TAMUCC), 6-2, 6-4
2.
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) def. Omar Suarez (TAMUCC), 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. Etienne Marty (TAMUCC) def.
Santiago Serrano (UTRGV), 7-6 (7:4), 6-3
4. Ethan Dasset (TAMUCC) def.
Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV), 6-4, 6-3
5. Josef Zapletal (TAMUCC) def.
Will Roberts (UTRGV), 6-0, 6-2
6. Tsz Him Chan (UTRGV) def. Mikel Garmendia (TAMUCC), 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
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