BALTIMORE, Md. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's tennis team dropped their second match of the day, 4-3, at the Morgan State University (MSU) Bears Monday at the Lake Clifton Park Tennis Courts.
UTRGV rallied to win the doubles point with victories on courts one and two after MSU took the set on court three.
Court one finished second as the duo of graduate student
Sam Whitehead and sophomore
Loic Young Kriegel combined for a 6-3 win. Two minutes later, the duo of juniors
Ivo Isqueiro and
Will Roberts wrapped up their 6-3 win on court two.
In singles play, Whitehead came out firing, earning a dominant 6-3, 6-2 win over
Rhajzon Rankins. In the first set, Whitehead and Rankins were knotted at 3-3 before Whitehead rattled off three straight games to secure the first set win. Similarly, the pair were knotted at 2-2 in the second before Whitehead won four in a row to win the match.
UTRGV's next win came on court two as Isqueiro rallied from one set down to put the Vaqueros up 3-1 in the overall match. Isqueiro dropped a tight first set, 6-4, before dominating in the final two sets, winning 6-1, 6-2.
The Vaqueros pushed the Bears to third sets on four courts which included the aforementioned court two and courts four, five, and six.
Sophomore
Tsz Him "Michael" Chan was the first of the remaining three to finish, losing the first set, 6-3, before bouncing back to earn a 6-3 set of his own. In the second, Chan and his opponent
Yessine Kerouat were knotted at 3-3 before Chan rattled off three straight games. Kerouat would go on to secure the match with a 6-2 win in the third.
The next court to finish was court six where junior
Paolo Bonaguro battled against
Abdulraheem Isa. Bonaguro went up early in the first set and never looked back, winning 6-3. In the second, Bonaguro and Isa went the distance with Isa taking the set in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7:4). Isa carried the momentum into the third, winning 6-3.
That left junior
Will Roberts on court four, where he battled in a 2:44 marathon. Another tiebreaker ensued in this match as the first set went 7-6 (7:5) in favor of
Mohamed Ridha Ghettas. Roberts bounced back, winning the second set with ease, 6-2. The third set dragged, with multiple breaks in the middle games, but Ghettas ultimately scraped out the 6-4 victory to clinch the match for MSU.
The Vaqueros next match will be the Southland Conference opener and the second round of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, on Saturday, March 21 at the Orville Cox Tennis Center. All matches at the Orville Cox Tennis Center are free and open to the public.
Results
Doubles (3, 1, 2)
1.
Sam Whitehead/
Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV) def. Mohamed Ridha Ghettas/Yessine Kerouat (MSU), 6-3
2.
Ivo Isqueiro/
Will Roberts (UTRGV) def. Roman Filima/Rhajzon Rankins (MSU), 6-3
3.
Abdulraheem Isa/Ilya Maltsev (MSU) def. Paolo Bonaguro/Tsz Him "Michael" Chan (UTRGV), 6-3
Singles (1, 3, 2, 5, 6, 4)
1.
Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) def. Rhajzon Rankins (MSU), 6-3, 6-2
2.
Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) def. Ilya Maltsev (MSU), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
3. Roman Filima (MSU) def.
Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV), 6-2, 7-6 (13:11)
4. Mohamed Ridha Ghettas (MSU) def.
Will Roberts (UTRGV), 7-6 (7:5), 2-6, 6-4
5. Yessine Kerouat (MSU) def. Tsz Him Chan (UTRGV), 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
6. Abdulraheem Isa (MSU) def.
Paolo Bonaguro (UTRGV), 3-6, 7-6 (7:4), 6-3
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