Men’s tennis splits matches against UTRGV and Howard Payne
The men’s tennis team fell to NCAA D1 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) 7-0 and defeated Howard Payne University (HPU) 7-0 on Friday at the Northside Tennis Center. Full results are listed below.
Head Coach Sal Castillo commented, “Today’s matches were a great opportunity for the team to develop some very important strategic fundamentals. UTRGV plays a very aggressive and quick strike game while Howard Payne takes a much more high percentage style of play. So as the team learned of the aggressive, quick strike style is on and you’re a little off it is going to be a mental battle of staying cool under pressure. We did that quite well, but when opportunities to take the offensive at key moments were overplayed shots or missed easy put-aways. That’s not going to be good enough against a team like UTRGV. Against Howard Payne I was happy to see everyone forget about the loss, regroup, refocus and play the way they are capable. Still, it’s a lot of season left to play, and I think we have the team to play with anyone and at the very least, they better be ready to play. The 2021 Saints team is going to be in the hunt for a place at the nationals.”
Match vs. UTRGV
| OLLU | UTRGV | Score | Result |
| Caio Ravagnani (SO/Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil)/Murilo Salviato (SO/Araras, Sao Paulo, Brazil) | Jankovic/Kohrs | 0-6 | Loss |
| Artur Etzberger (SR/Novo Hamburgo, RS, Brazil)/Vinicius Silva (JR/Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil) | Izurieta/Schmit | 1-6 | Loss |
| Michael Canales (FR/San Antonio, Texas)/Rosendo Ceballos (FR/San Antonio, Texas) | Williams/Mello | 4-6 | Loss |
| Artur Etzberger | C. Izurieta | 6-7, 2-6 | Loss |
| Caio Ravagnani | L. Jankovic | 0-6, 1-6 | Loss |
| Murilo Salviato | Z. Kohls | 0-6, 1-6 | Loss |
| Vinicius Silva | T. Williams | 2-6, 2-6 | Loss |
| Michael Canales | M. Schmitt | 2-6, 0-6 | Loss |
| Sebastian Rodriguez (JR/San Antonio, Texas) | A. Mello | 0-6, 2-6 | Loss |
Match vs. HPU
| OLLU | HPU | Score | Result |
| Caio Ravagnani/Murilo Salviato | Green/Hunter | 6-1 | Win |
| Artur Etzberger/Michael Canales | Ferree/Anderson | 6-1 | Win |
| Rosendo Ceballos/Vinicius Silva | Stevens/Denardo | 3-6 | Loss |
| Artur Etzberger | M. Hunter | 6-0, 6-0 | Win |
| Caio Ravagnani | D. Denardo | 6-2, 6-2 | Win |
| Murilo Salviato | A. Shelton | 6-0, 6-0 | Win |
| Michael Canales | H. Green | 6-1, 6-2 | Win |
| Sebastian Rodriguez | L. Ferree | 7-6, 6-1 | Win |
| Rosendo Ceballos | D. Anderson | 7-5, 6-1 | Win |
The Saints travel a short distance to face the University of the Incarnate Word on Feb. 19 at 11 a.m.