Men’s Tennis Defeated at Abilene Christian

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men’s tennis team was defeated Thursday by the Abilene Christian (ACU) Wildcats, 7-0, at the Teague Special Events Center.

In doubles action, UTRGV’s No. 2 duo of redshirt junior Sam Whitehead and sophomore Paolo Bonaguro cruised to a 6-0 win. They asserted themselves from the service line, recording four aces in the quick match.

The Wildcats (3-4) came back to take two tight wins on the first and third courts to secure the 1-0 lead. The No. 1 bout went back-and-forth from the start before a big final game from ACU evened the session with a 7-5 win. UTRGV’s No. 3 team of sophomores Will Roberts and Ivo Isqueiro showed great fight to come back from trailing by three games to tie the set at 4-4, then swapped games to 5-5. ACU secured the final two games to claim the doubles point with another 7-5 match.

With the match being moved indoors, the first three singles flights got started after doubles, while the bottom three flights had to wait for courts to open up to begin. ACU clinched the team victory with wins in the first, third and second singles matches. The Wildcats went on to sweep the singles session.

UTRGV (0-4) pushed several sets in the competitive match. Isqueiro gave Dennis Dutine all he could handle in the No. 2 match, pushing the first set before Dutine won, 7-5, and responding nicely to win the second, 6-3. The deciding third frame saw the two continue to exchange blows until Dutine finished it at 7-5. Freshman Eduardo Menezes made his singles debut on the sixth court.

UTRGV’s next match will be Friday at 11 a.m. at Texas Tech.

Results
Doubles (2, 1, 3) 
1. Daniel Linkuns-Morozovs/Benjamin McDonald (ACU) def. Santiago Serrano/Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV) 7-5
2. Sam Whitehead/Paolo Bonaguro (UTRGV) def. Alejandro Verdasco/Ethan Scribner (ACU) 6-0
3. Martin Delnido/Merse Deli (ACU) def. Will Roberts/Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) 7-5

Singles (1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6) 
1. Daniel Linkuns-Morozovs (ACU) def. Sam Whitehead (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-2
2. Dennis Dutine (ACU) def. Ivo Isqueiro (UTRGV) 7-5, 3-6, 7-5
3. Merse Deli (ACU) def. Loic Young Kriegel (UTRGV) 7-5, 6-4
4. Tomas Tischner (ACU) def. Santiago Serrano (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-3
5. Alejandro Verdasco (ACU) def. Paolo Bonaguro (UTRGV) 6-4, 6-4
6. Martin Delnido (ACU) def. Eduardo Menezes (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-4