CORPUS CHRISTI – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi men's and women's tennis teams opened the fall season today at the Marco & Co. Catering Islanders Open. Despite inclement weather that pushed the men's singles matches indoors at the HEB Tennis Center and the Corpus Christi Athletic Club, the men's team advanced four to the quarterfinals of the singles draw. The women's team also had a solid day advancing three to the quarterfinals of singles action.
"I thought the Islanders competed very hard today as a team." Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "They managed the things they could control fairly well.
"This is a special event for us in our hometown with a sponsor, Marco Mattolini, who is endeared by our team. I think this group always wants to give their best effort for these people in the community who care so much about the Islanders. I'm also very grateful to HEB Tennis Center, the Corpus Christi Athletic Club and a very classy group of visiting coaches who handled this rain situation the best we could. Tomorrow gives us another day to get better at every facet of competing so we look forward to that challenge."
For the men's team, No. 1 seed Kevin Bettendroffer, the reigning men's singles champion won both of his singles matches today in straight sets. In the opening round, he topped Stephen McMullen of Lamar, 6-2, 6-1, before securing a 6-3, 6-4 win over Miguel Alvarez-Hevia of Texas-Pan American, 6-3, 6-4. He will face Daniel Echeverrry of UT Arlington tomorrow morning in the quarterfinals. Also advancing is Guillaume Rauseo, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Nikola Crvelin of UTPA, before breezing to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Jake Rother of UTSA in the round of 16. He will take on Carlos Arbiza of UT Arlington tomorrow in the quarterfinals. Paul Cook will also be playing in the quarterfinals after he squeezed out a 6-2, 3-6, 11-9 thriller over Lamar's Joan Bonavila. In the round of 16, Cook sealed a 6-1, 6-1 victory over No. 8 seed Juan Cruz-Soria. Cook will face Leonard Ivic of Incarnate Word tomorrow in the quarterfinals. The fourth Islander to be competing for the men's team will be Ricardo Mayagoitia. The junior topped Etahn Ammon of UTPA 6-3, 6-0, before posting a 6-3, 6-3 win over Stefan Williams of UTA. He will take on Lamar's Niko Rajamaki tomorrow in the quarterfinals.
On the women's side, Judit Vives, Maider Martin and Celia Rodriguez all advanced to the final eight of the women's singles draw. Vives downed Sonia Madronal of UTSA 6-0, 6-2 in the opening round before tacking up a 6-3, 6-1 win over Agustina Serio of UTA. She will face Aikaterini Stavrovlaki tomorrow in the quarterfinals. Martin rolled through her first two matches with 6-2, 6-1 straight-set victories. In the opening round she cruised past Taryn Strahl of Incarnate Word before topping UTSA's Irene Gandara in the second round. Martin will face UTA's Christine Foote tomorrow in the quarterfinals. The final Islander to compete tomorrow in the singles draw for the women's team is Rodriguez. The junior posted a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Hanna Elfing of Lamar before edging out a three-set win over Incarnate Word's Rachel Sadig. Rodriguez secured the first set 6-4, before dropping the second set 2-6. In the third, Rodriguez clinched the match with a 6-4 win. She will take on Nicole Karaklis of UTSA tomorrow in the quarterfinals.
The opening round of doubles play and the men's and women's singles consolation draws were pushed back to tomorrow due to the inclement weather. The Islanders will have three pairs of doubles players playing for both men's and women's teams. Play will start at 9 a.m. at both the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center and the HEB Tennis Center.
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