Texas Border Business
ABILENE, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men’s tennis team defeated the Seattle U Redhawks 4-3 in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) match Friday at Abilene Christian’s Eager Tennis Pavilion.
UTRGV (5-14, 2-3 WAC) swept the doubles courts to lock up the early 1-0 lead. Junior Chris Lawrance worked quickly in his No. 6 match to take a dominant 6-1, 6-1 win. Senior Alberto Mello took a 6-3, 6-3 victory in the No. 5 flight to put the Vaqueros within one match of the team victory at 3-0.
Seattle U (4-19, 0-5 WAC) trimmed its deficit to 3-2 with wins in the fourth and second flights.
Junior Misha Kvantaliani clinched the victory for UTRGV with a hard-fought win in the No. 1 spot. He won a tightly contested first set 7-5, then dropped the second 3-6. Kvantaliani finished strong with a 6-2 win in the third.
Junior George Hutchings was resilient in his No. 3 match. He bounced back well from a 4-6 loss in the first set to win the second 6-3. In the third frame, Hutchings and Seattle U’s Veselin Kiselkov exchanged blows to a 6-6 tie, forcing a tiebreaker to decide the bout. Despite a good battle from Hutchings, Kiselkov held on for the 7-6 (7-3) win.
UTRGV plays its final WAC regular season match on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against Grand Canyon back at the Eager Tennis Pavilion.
Complete Results
Singles (6, 5, 4, 2, 1, 3)
1. Misha Kvantaliani (UTRGV) def. Julian Worn (SU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
2. Filip Stipic (SU) def. Carlo Izurieta (UTRGV) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
3. Veselin Kiselkov (SU) def. George Hutchings (UTRGV) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3)
4. Michael Frank (SU) def. Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) 7-5, 6-3
5. Alberto Mello (UTRGV) def. Mats Krause (SU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Chris Lawrance (UTRGV) def. Lars Schmassmann (SU) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles (2, 3, 1)
1. Misha Kvantaliani/George Hutchings (UTRGV) def. Veselin Kiselkov/Julian Worn (SU) 6-4
2. Carlo Izurieta/Alberto Mello (UTRGV) def. Michael Frank/Mats Krause (SU) 6-2
3. Chris Lawrance/Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) def. Filip Stipic/Oliver Hall (SU) 6-4
