RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men’s tennis team will host the UTSA Roadrunners in a noon non-conference match Wednesday at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
The match was originally scheduled to be played Jan. 21 in San Antonio, but weather moved the contest south. This will be the first time UTRGV (2-3) faces UTSA (0-1) at home since 2018.
“We’re definitely excited to get UTSA down here. Getting a chance to battle them on our home courts is going to be a lot of fun,” head coach Nathan Robinson said.
The Vaqueros picked up a gritty 4-3 win over Lamar in their home opener last week and look forward to another chance at defending home courts against a familiar and tough opponent. UTRGV is 23-38 all-time against the Roadrunners (0-1). UTSA has won the last nine matches in the series, with UTRGV’s last win coming in 2016 in Corpus Christi.
The Vaqueros come into this match with five contests under their belts after a solid 2-1 weekend, while UTSA’s lone match this season was a 5-2 loss at No. 22 Oklahoma on Jan. 13.
In last year’s match, senior captain Emilien Burnel picked up a solid 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (10:6) win in the No. 1 singles spot. Burnel was recently named the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) singles player of the week after going 3-0 over the weekend with a pair of come-from-behind wins. He’ll lead UTRGV’s efforts against a talented UTSA squad.
“Head coach Sergey Avdeyev has done a great job with that program. Last year they were inside the top 40 in the country,” Robinson said. “We’ll have to be ready from the start. We’ll have to play good doubles and be very locked in on all six courts. That’s not just a very solid team, it’s an experienced team, lots of juniors and seniors in that lineup, so we’ll have to be playing at our very, very best to find our way through that one.”
Sophomore McAllen Memorial alum Agustin Salazar echoed Robinson’s message that the Vaqueros will have to bring their A-game Wednesday. He’s excited about the potential the team has shown through the first two weeks of the season, and this match will be another good test and opportunity for the team, especially the newcomers, to grow.
“For me, it’s been a way better start to the season than last year even though I’m playing in a tighter spot,” said Salazar, who made the move up to the No. 2 singles slot. “The freshmen have showed a lot of promise in the matches so far and I’m hopeful they’ll keep getting better and we’ll be able to win more matches in the future.
“UTSA is a really tough team full of great players,” added Salazar. “It’s nice to have them down here. We’re going to have to all be playing 100%, maybe 200%. Each guy has to do his job on the court and we can’t give away any easy points. Be locked in, be focused, and hope for the best.”
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