CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tennis teams had a solid opening to the 2026-27 season over the weekend, hosting the Jake Frederick Memorial Islander Open and showcasing some positives on their home court throughout.
The Islanders welcomed five other teams to the Coastal Bend on Friday through Sunday, hosting a field that consisted of Abilene Christian, UTSA, UIW, Lamar and UTRGV. The weekend started with a tribute to former A&M-Corpus Christi tennis player Jake Frederick, who joined the team in 2002 and later became an F-18 Marine pilot. Sadly, in 2016, Jake gave his life for his country during a flight over the Pacific Ocean near Japan.
Men's Singles
The best performance for the men on the singles side came from freshman
Nicolas Rivera Paz, who competed as part of the Orange Flight. Rivera Paz squared off against Ian Uraga of UIW in the first round and emerged victorious in a great battle, coming back after falling in the first set to win by a count of 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5). He then fell in his next match to ACU's Grant Lothringer, but in the flight's 3-4 playoff, he bounced back in a big way, downing Lothringer's teammate David Kirchner in straight sets 7-5, 6-2.
Beyond Rivera Paz, new transfer
Dani Lopez also managed to notch a win in singles action. After dropping his opening match of the Purple Flight, the Spaniard got himself on the board in his next match, taking on Miguel Bellorio Pinheiro of UTRGV and coming out on top by a count of 6-3, 6-2. Lopez nearly won his next contest as well, playing close with UTSA's Joel Hansson before falling 6-3, 6-4.
Men's Doubles
The best run for the men came in doubles action, with the duo of
Egor Gorin and
Mikel Garmendia making their way through three matches on their way to the top prize in Flight A. The two started things off against Santiago Serrano Huidobro and Ivo Isqueiro of UTRGV and emerged victorious 6-4, and right after, they squared off with Lothringer and Luis Jose Nakamine of ACU and again pulled through 7-5. This set up a final showdown against the Vaqueros' Loic Young and Paolo Benedicto Bonaguro La Roche, and with the title on the line, Gorin and Garmendia put together their strongest effort, pulling off the 6-2 victory to take home the crown.
Flight B saw two different Islanders teams take home a match victory, starting at the top side of the bracket when Lopez and
Jami Savolainen dispatched Louis Drapeau and Vincente Monge with a 6-3 triumph. On the bottom half,
Andres Delgadillo and
Dan Hosono would then take care of Santiago Flyckt and Carlos Mendoza Hernandez of UIW, making it back-to-back A&M-Corpus Christi wins. The two teams would go on to fall in their next matches, but in an extra contest after, Delgadillo and Hosono would pick up another victory, defeating Dan Mulburn and Lukas Hamacher of Lamar 6-3.
Women's Singles
The women started off their time at the Open in very strong fashion, with a pair of returners making their own respective runs to the finals of Flight A. The first of these was
Yana Mykytyn, who began her tournament with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Mirka Delaney of UTRGV and then advanced again after the Vaqueros' Mariangel Estrella was forced to withdraw due to injury. Mykytyn was then joined in the finals by fellow All-SLC First Team member
Kseniya Ramanouskaya, who first took down UTRGV's Rhea Makesar 6-2, 6-3 before then defeating Makesar's teammate Luna Buijtenhuijs by a similar score of 6-4, 6-2. With these results, the two doubles partners would end up sharing the Flight A title.
The momentum for the Islanders would not slow down from here, as they went on to get another two first-round victories in Flight B after returner
Adriana Jiménez Casado triumphed over UTRGV's Hitakamya Narwal Singh 6-2, 6-2 and freshman Marie Krymlová down the Vaqueros' Juana Gomez Weiss by the same score. Krymlová would end up falling to UIW's Amelie Montalvo in a 7-5, 6-1 contest, but Jiménez Casado would keep her run going, defeating the Cardinals' Victoria Jordana Salcedo Franklin by another 6-2, 6-2 score. This allowed Jiménez Casado to avenge Krymlová in the finals of the flight against Gomez Weiss, and she did exactly that, winning 6-2, 6-4 to make it two-for-two in victories for A&M-Corpus Christi.
Women's Doubles
The success for the women was not limited to singles either, as the group of four from above also showcased a level of dominance when working together as well. In the lone doubles flight of the tournament, Krymlová and Jiménez Casado paired together for their first match as partners and found immediate chemistry, first beating Buijtenhuijs and Madeleine Joffe 6-3 and then taking down Montalvo and Salcedo Franklin 6-2 to advance to the finals. On the other side of the bracket, Mykytyn and Ramanouskaya picked up where they left off last season, first beating Estrella and Gomez Weiss in a tight 7-5 affair before downing Ine Lamprecht and Jana Ruzic of UIW by a count of 6-4. With this, the two teams shared the flight title, making it a clean sweep for the Islanders between singles and doubles.
Beyond these four, the duo of
Leticia Tarocco and
Salomea Jasiczek also had success elsewhere in the bracket, as after dropping their first match, they would go on to win their next two, downing Buijtenhuijs and Joffe 6-2 and Narwal Singh and Makesar 6-2.
The Islanders will now take some time before getting back into action, with the men hitting the court next at the Ron Wesbrooks Invitational in Beaumont on October 2 and the women at the ITA Texas Regionals in Waco on October 8.
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