Texas Border Business
CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men’s tennis team was defeated 2-5 by the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Cardinals on Friday at the Orville I. Cox Tennis Center.
The doubles matches were extremely competitive. UIW (6-5) took the first of three matches with a 6-3 win at No. 1. UTRGV (1-7) seniors Carlo Izurieta and Alberto Mello were relentless at No. 2, emphatically coming back from down 1-4 to take five straight games and win their match 6-4.
Junior Chris Lawrance and freshman Sam Whitehead fought hard at No. 3 but dropped the match 5-7 and UIW took the 1-0 lead with the doubles point.
The Cardinals clinched the match with straight set wins at No. 4, No. 6 and No. 5.
Junior Misha Kvantaliani, senior Carlo Izurieta and junior George Hutchings battled on the top three courts.
Izurieta took the opening set of his No. 2 match with a score of 6-3. He found himself locked in another back-and-forth affair in the second set and took command late, winning three straight games to secure the win at 6-4 and put UTRGV on the board, trailing 1-5.
Kvantaliani dropped the opening set of his No. 1 match after forcing a tiebreaker, then bounced back for a solid 6-1 second set win. The result had not been decided yet, so the match went to a full third set. Kvantaliani erased an early 0-1 deficit and earned a hard-fought 6-4 win.
The No. 3 match between junior George Hutchings and UIW’s Tomas Reche also needed a rubber match, but with the Cardinals victory secured, the final frame was a 10-point tiebreaker. Reche walked away with the 10-3 win.
UTRGV’s next match will be Feb. 26 at 11 a.m. at Oklahoma State.
Complete Results
Singles (4, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1)
1. Misha Kvantaliani (UTRGV) def. Marwin Kralemann (UIW) 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-4
2. Carlo Izurieta (UTRGV) def. Arnau Miralles Lopez (UIW) 6-3, 6-4
3. Tomas Reche (UIW) def. George Hutchings (UTRGV) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-3)
4. Ivan Smith (UIW) def. Te Kani Williams (UTRGV) 6-1, 6-0
5. Warren Fulgenzi (UIW) def. Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) 6-4, 6-2
6. Noah Deluna (UIW) def. Alberto Mello (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles (1, 2, 3)
1. Noah DeLuna/Marwin Kralemann (UIW) def. Misha Kvantaliani/George Hutchings (UTRGV) 6-3
2. Carlo Izurieta/Alberto Mello (UTRGV) def. Joao Sasso/Warren Fulgenzi (UIW) 6-4
3. Tomas Reche/Ivan Smith (UIW) def. Chris Lawrance/Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) 7-5
