April 15, 2008

Playing in front of a difficult home crowd, The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs stunned the Santa Clara Broncos in a 5 - 2 victory on Monday (Apr. 14) in Santa Clara, CA.

With the win, the Broncs improved to 8-10 on the season and have one final game remaining on the 2008 campaign before competing in the Southland Conference Tournament on April 25-27.

"The men's team, though young, continue to improve as the hard fought victory on the road indicates," said head men's and women's tennis coach Rob Hubbard. "The represented our university quite well and I am proud of them."

The men finished the weekend in the West Coast with a 1-1 record and the scheduled match with Portland State was cancelled due to difficulties with American Airlines last week.

The Broncs quickly took control of the match, collecting the doubles' point and heading into singles' action with a 1-0 lead.

Falling in the top flight was tandem Ivan Avila and Nirvick Mohinta who came up 9-8 in a tiebreaker set against Kenzo Hirakawawong and Jay Wong while Andrew Irving and Marcus Dornauf took a decisive 8-1 victory over Justin Wong and John Iwanski in the second flight.

Clinching the doubles' point was duo Ashwin Vijyaragavan and Shashank Vij recording a 8-4 victory over Senthil Chidambaram and Charlie Burke.

"Shashank and Ashwin's victory at the number-three doubles slot proved to be big for us and he carried it right into his singles match," Hubbard said.

Playing in the number-one spot in the lineup, Avila dropped a 6-2, 6-2 decision against Wong while newcomer Vijayaragavan lost in a third set super tiebreaker 10 - 6 to Hirakawawong playing in the number-two spot in the rotation.

Mohinta added a point in singles' play when he handed Chidambaram a 7-5, 6-4 setback in the third spot in the lineup while Irving came from behind after dropping his first set posted a 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Burke in the fourth spot.

Dornauf cursed to a 6-0, 6-2 win against Justin Wong playing in the number-five spot in the rotation while Vij who saw limited playing time this season trounced Iwanski with a 6-1, 6-0 victory in the number-six slot in the lineup.

"I was particularly proud of Shashank stepping up against Satan Clara despite having little playing time this season. Vij has been the consummate team player this season after his role as a starter last season changed this year," added Hubbard.

The Broncs will be back in action on Saturday (Apr. 19) when they take on Southland Conference foe-University of Texas at San Antonio at 2 p.m. in San Antonio, TX.

"The men's team, though young continue to improve as the hard fought victory on the road indicates. They represented our university quite well and I am proud of them," concluded Hubbard.

UTPA Sports Information