RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's tennis program is looking to secure its second consecutive Southland Conference (SLC) tournament appearance in home matches with the New Orleans (UNO) Privateers and Nicholls (NU) Colonels this weekend at Orville Cox Tennis Center.
 
Last Time Out
 
UTRGV dropped tight road matches against the Lamar (LU) Cardinals and the Incarnate Word (UIW) Cardinals last weekend.
 
Against LU, the Vaqueros took the doubles point with dominant wins on courts one and two.
 
UTRGV picked up the next two points of the match as junior Ivo Isqueiro dispatched Maxwell Lindstedt 6-4, 6-2 on court two. Meanwhile, on court five, junior Will Roberts snapped a two-match skid with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Louis Drapeau.
 
The Cardinals rallied with wins on the remaining courts to steal a 4-3 victory.
 
Against UIW, UTRGV dropped the doubles point and battled hard during singles play, pushing four matches to three sets, but eventually fell 5-2.
 
Junior Santiago Serrano picked up his first conference win against the Cardinals, a 6-2, 6-3 drubbing of Marcel Miralles. Meanwhile, Roberts rallied to earn his second singles win of the weekend, a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 comeback win against Ian Uraga.
 
The Vaqueros enter the weekend with a 1-2 record in conference play and sit in fourth in the standings. UNO and NU are both 0-2 and sit in fifth and sixth, respectively. A sweep in the final weekend of conference play would clinch UTRGV's spot in the SLC Men's Tennis Tournament
 
New Orleans – April 4, 11 a.m. – Orville Cox Tennis Center – Edinburg, Texas
 
UTRGV returns home for its conference finale, opening against the defending SLC tournament champions, UNO, on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Vaqueros went 1-1 against the Privateers last season, as their season ended with a 4-1 loss in the first round of the SLC tournament.
 
UNO enters the match with an 8-9 overall record and is 0-2 in conference play. Both losses were 5-2 matches at home against LU and UIW.
 
Three Privateers have picked up a conference win this season, including, Jacob Rouleau-Mailly at court one, Carlos Melgosa at the number three spot, and Gonzalo Cotter at court four.
 
All matches at Orville Cox Tennis Center are free and open to the public. Fans can also follow along through live stats.
 
Nicholls – April 6, 3 p.m. – Orville Cox Tennis Center – Edinburg, Texas
 
UTRGV will round out conference play Monday against NU at 3 p.m. at Orville Cox Tennis Center. The Vaqueros will honor graduate student and team captain Sam Whitehead as he wraps up his storied five-year career at UTRGV.
 
UTRGV is 10-8 all-time against NU including a 4-0 sweep in Thibodaux last season. In that match, UTRGV took the doubles point with wins on courts two and three. Then, in singles play, the Vaqueros picked up wins on courts one, three, and six to secure the sweep.
 
NU enters the weekend with a 4-10 overall record and 0-2 record in conference play. The Colonels enter the weekend on a nine-match skid with their last win coming against Southern on Feb. 24.
 
All matches at Orville Cox Tennis Center are free and open to the public. Fans can also follow along through live stats.

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