Men’s Tennis Ready To Take On Louisiana Winter Classic
History Links LAFAYETTE, Louisiana – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men’s Vaqueros tennis team travels to Lafayette, Louisiana for the weekend to take on the Louisiana Winter Classic.
Despite some late changes to participating teams due to winter storms causing travel issues, the six-team event will still challenge the Vaqueros in a positive way as they continue to prepare for conference play. In addition to the UTRGV and the host Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, competing teams include Nicholls, Southern Miss, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tyler Junior College.
The Vaqueros (3-4) will face a new opponent at Tyler Junior College at 11 a.m. Friday. UTRGV takes on Southern Miss at 10 a.m. Saturday. Both matches will be played at Cajun Courts and will follow a regular doubles match format with full doubles and singles.
“If you’re in the area, come support us. We’ve got a great group of guys. We’re going to be loud, it’s going to be great fun and a lot of good tennis to watch this weekend,” said coach- UTRGV’s head of men’s tennis, Nathan Robinson. “It’s a great tournament. We will have a good group of teams to help us prepare to continue all season.”
Tyler Junior College is a perennial powerhouse in NJCAA Division I men’s tennis, winning three national championships over the past five seasons. UTRGV sophomore Karlo Krolo can share his knowledge of TJC as he helped his former school, Seward County Community College, win the national title in 2022 and claim an individual national championship with a win over Jakob Tyler’s Mosvold in Vol. 5 singles.
UTRGV is 0-3 against Southern Miss since 2015, but both teams played a close game in their last meeting in 2019 as Southern Miss took the win 4-3. The Golden Eagles (1-1) have not played a game since Jan. 15 due to inclement weather affecting their schedule, while the Vaqueros enjoyed a busy and productive first month with seven competitive games.
“We had a good first month of the year. We let one slip away there against Lamar, but we can’t wait to get back to it. We’re looking for continued growth, keep fighting and keep working. about what we talked about in practice,” Robinson said.
The Vaqueros will also have the chance to watch and learn from teams they won’t face. Junior Emilien Burnel said he was delighted to see his rival TAMUCC, whom the UTRGV will face in three weeks. The UTRGV is focused on attacking the Louisiana Winter Classic with an aggressive mentality.
“We just have to trust our game, our team and ourselves,” Burnel said. “We just have to take every game seriously and take care of the work and if you can finish the game go get the point.”
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