EDINBURG, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tennis teams split the first of two meetings with UTRGV this season, with the women winning 6-1 and the men falling in a tight 4-3 decision Sunday at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
The results go towards the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, an annual rivalry series in which the institutions compete against each other in 12 sports. A&M-Corpus Christi leads the all-time series 5-2 and is still leading this year's competition 21.5 to 17.5 after today.
After a quick 6-0 win from
Palina Saulevich/
Ana Veroux at the No. 3 doubles, the teams looked to No.2 to decide the doubles point.
Valeria Cherfus/
Kateryna Rublevska took an early 2-0 lead before the Vaqueros tied it all up. The pair jumped back ahead 5-3, but UTRGV wouldn't go away and ended up holding a 6-5 edge before the resilient Islanders forced the tiebreaker, where they won the set 7-6 (1) to secure the doubles point.
Saulevish, Veroux, and
Emma Aucagne took care of business at the sixth, fourth, and first courts in straight-set singles wins to clinch the match. Cherfus extended the lead to 5-0 at the No. 3 spot.
After going down in a 7-5 first set,
Naomi Moi McKenzie powered back to take the second 6-3 before grinding out the third-set tiebreaker 10-7 to earn A&M-Corpus Christi's final point of the match.
The UTRGV women are 11-3 at home in the past three seasons, with their only losses coming to the Islanders.
"Our girls got off to a slow start in the doubles, but really showed tremendous heart and fight in singles! Their determination and willingness to find a way were very impressive today. UTRGV has a very well-coached team and they are very hard to play at home!" said head coach
Steve Moore.
After dropping the doubles point, the Islanders had to take the fight to the singles where
Avery Zavala grabbed A&M-Corpus Christi's first point after a 6-3,6-3 win at court one.
Antoine Vicaire at No. 5 and
Nicolas Trebuchet at No. 6 each battled out three-set victories, but it came after UTRGV had already clinched the match at courts two and three.
"Sometimes, you have to give credit to your opponent and UTRGV really rose up and played a tough, tough match at home. We really had our chances in breaks to win and in several other spots, but we just have to learn and grow and get better! I'm confident this team will because they have tremendous character and they care about this team deeply," said Moore.
Under Moore, the women are now 27-1 all-time against UTRGV. It is the men's first loss to UTRGV since 2010, though, the Islanders still lead the Vaqueros men 25-4 all-time.
The Islanders will return home to the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center to host Howard Payne in doubleheaders. Both the men and women will play beginning at 9 a.m. with the second matches to be played right after.
Women's Tennis
A&M-Corpus Christi 6, UTRGV 1
Doubles Competition (3, 1, 2)
1. Lea Karren/Marjorie Souza (UTRGV) def.
Emma Aucagne/Naomi McKenzie (AMCC) 6-0
2. Valeriia Cherfus/
Kateryna Rublevska (AMCC) def. Kristal Dule/Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) 7-6 (7:1)
3.
Palina Saulevich/
Ana Veroux (AMCC) def. Valentina Urraco/Giuliana Castelain (UTRGV) 6-0
Singles Competition (6, 4, 1, 3, 2, 5)
1.
Emma Aucagne (AMCC) def. Lea Karren (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-1
2. Naomi McKenzie (AMCC) def. Marjorie Souza (UTRGV) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10:7)
3.
Valeria Cherfus (AMCC) def. Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) 7-6 (7:3), 3-0, ret.
4.
Ana Veroux (AMCC) def. Valentina Urraco (UTRGV) 6-1, 6-3
5. Kristal Dule (UTRGV) def.
Kateryna Rublevska (AMCC) 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10:6)
6.
Palina Saulevich (AMCC) def. Giuliana Castelain (UTRGV) 6-1, 6-0
Men's Tennis
UTRGV 4, Islanders 3
Doubles Competition (2, 1, 3)
1.
Etienne Marty/
Avery Zavala (AMCC) def. Emilien Burnel/Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) 6-1
2. Paolo Bonaguro/Will Roberts (UTRGV) def.
Nicolas Trebuchet/
Iannis Fernandes (AMCC) 6-1
3. Ivo Isqueiro/Agustin Salazar (UTRGV) def.
Antoine Vicaire/
Matthieu Coignet (AMCC) 6-4
Singles Competition (4, 1, 3, 2, 5, 6)
1.
Avery Zavala (AMCC) def. Emilien Burnel (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-3
2. Agustin Salazar (UTRGV) def.
Etienne Marty (AMCC) 7-6 (8:6), 6-4
3. Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) def.
Lucas Schurdevin (AMCC) 6-2, 6-4
4. Santiago Serrano (UTRGV) def.
Iannis Fernandes (AMCC) 6-1, 6-0
5.
Antoine Vicaire (AMCC) def. Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
6.
Nicolas Trebuchet (AMCC) def. Paolo Bonaguro (UTRGV) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 16 NCAA Tournaments
- 33 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 41 Straight Semesters
- Islanders have received a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament three times
- Women's tennis has cracked the ITA top-75 national rankings three times
- Men's tennis has cracked the ITA national rankings 10 consecutive years
- Ranked nationally in NCAA DI as high as No. 35 for the men and No. 60 for the women
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