AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi men's tennis team opened the season today at the UT Invitational at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center in Austin, Texas. The event continues tomorrow and concludes on Sunday. The Islanders secured a doubles win over Texas, and a singles victory over Arkansas, while senior Peter Nagy battled the No. 13-ranked player in the country to a 7-5 third set.
"This is our first spring date and I'm very proud of the way we competed today," Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "I thought our energy in doubles was excellent. Peter served for the match against a guy that made the NCAA semifinals last year and is No. 13 in the country. That match was one of the best college matches I have seen in a long time, and the third set was incredible.
"We wanted to compete hard and I think the guys represented what Islanders Tennis stands for today. I thought every guy competed extremely hard."
Nagy opened his final spring season with a thrilling singles match. The senior battled No. 13-ranked Søren Hess-Olesen of Texas to a three-setter. Nagy dropped the first set, 6-2, to Hess-Olesen, who advanced to the NCAA singles championship semifinals last season, before bouncing back to win the second set, 6-4. In the third set, Nagy jumped out to an early 5-2 lead before All-American Hess-Olesen rallied back to win five straight games to win 7-5.
"Peter's match was so close and of course we would have liked to win that, but I think Hess-Olseon also deserves a lot of credit for fighting back, down 5-2 in the third," Moore said.
The Islanders faced Texas in five other tough singles matches. In his spring debut, sophomore Kevin Bettendroffer lost a tight first-set tiebreaker 7-6 (4), before falling 6-2 in the second set to All-American Lloyd Glasspool.
Junior Ricardo Mayagoitia also dropped a straight-set loss, 6-2, 6-3 to George Goldhoff. Junior Guillaume Rauseo suffered a 6-2, 6-2 loss to No. 48-ranked Adrien Berkowicz, while junior Mitchell Cook fell 6-3, 6-0, to Michael Reichmann in his first spring match for the Islanders. Also playing in his first career match for the Islanders was Wilks Kothmann, who lost a 6-2, 6-1 match to Adrien Ortiz-Ruiz. Sophomore Paul Cook was the lone Islander to secure a singles win today as he defeated Branch Terrell of Arkansas, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
"I thought we competed very strong today," Moore added. "I thought Kevin also played a very good match against Lloyd Glasspool, who played No. 2 last year on the Longhorns' team that made the final eight. He had set points in the first set and battled one of the top players in the country, toe-to-toe that whole match."
The Islanders opened the day with doubles action. The duo of Nagy and Rauseo edged out William Jou and John Mee of Texas, 7-5. The sophomore pair of Bettendroffer and P. Cook dropped a tough tiebreaker to Hugo Dojas of Texas Tech and Giammarco Micolani of Arkansas 7-6 (5), while juniors M. Cook and Mayagoitia fell 6-4 to Texas Tech's Alex Buzelan and Evan Nix.
The event is a mock-dual match setup that counts toward individual rankings, instead of team rankings. The format is a round-robin individual competition. The invitational will continue tomorrow with doubles play set to start at 10:30 a.m. followed by singles. The Islanders are slated to take on Texas and Arkansas in doubles action and will face the Longhorns in four singles matches and Texas Tech in two singles matches.
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UT Invitational
Austin, Texas (Weller Indoor Tennis Center)
1/9/15
Singles
#13 Soren Hess-Olesen (Texas) def. Peter Nagy (AMCC) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
#48 Adrien Berkowitz (Texas) def. Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) 6-2, 6-2
Lloyd Glasspool (Texas) def. Kevin Bettendroffer (AMCC) 7-6 (4), 6-2
George Goldhoff (Texas) def. Ricardo Mayagoitia (AMCC) 6-2, 6-3
Adrien Ortiz-Ruiz (Texas) def. Wilks Kothmann (AMCC) 6-2, 6-1
Micheal Reichmann (Texas) def. Mitchell Cook (AMCC) 6-3, 6-0
Paul Cook (AMCC) def. Branch Terrell (Arkansas) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
Doubles
Peter Nagy/Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. William Jou/John Mee (Texas) 7-5
Hugo Dojas (Texas Tech)/Giammarco Micolani (Arkansas) def. Kevin Bettendroffer/Paul Cook (AMCC) 7-6 (5)
Alex Buzelan/Evan Nix (Texas Tech) def. Mitchell Cook/Ricardo Mayagoitia (AMCC) 6-4
