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CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women’s tennis team fell, 6-1, to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) Islanders in the first round of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, Wednesday at Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.
 
TAMUCC took the doubles point with wins on courts one and two, but on court three, the Vaqueros battled in a 55-minute set that went 6-3 in favor of the UTRGV pair of sophomore Luna Buijtenhuijs and senior Valentina Urraco.
 
Trailing 1-0, the Vaqueros quickly knotted the match as sophomore Mariia Bakhtina cruised to 6-3, 6-1 victory. Bakhtina won nine of the final 10 games against Emma Bousquet to earn the point for UTRGV.
 
Meanwhile, on courts two and six, the Vaqueros were locked in competitive matches.
 
On court six, Urraco jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead that saw her break her opponent, Juliette Jalai, in two of her first three service games. Urraco closed out the first set with a 6-3 win. However, in the second set, Jalai returned the favor, breaking Urraco twice to close out a 6-2 win and force the deciding tiebreaker.
 
Jalai led by as much as three points in two separate occasions during the tiebreaker; however, Urraco battled back both times to knot the tiebreaker at 8-8. Jalai served to take a 9-8 lead and broke Urraco in the final point to clinch the three-set battle.
 
On court two, sophomore Hitakamya Narwal pushed Yana Mykytyn to a third set after dropping the first 6-2. In the second, Narwal turned it around quickly, breaking Mykytyn’s serve while leading 1-0 in the set. Later in the set, Narwal and Mykytyn were knotted at 4-4 before Narwal served to a 5-4 lead and broke Mykytyn’s serve to win the set 6-4. In the deciding tiebreaker,
 
TAMUCC clinched the win prior to the conclusion of courts two and six with wins on courts one, three, and four.
 
UTRGV will head to Austin for a doubleheader against No. 18 Texas Sunday. The first match is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. while the second match will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first match. Both matches will be played at Texas Tennis Center.
 
Results
Doubles (1, 2, 3) 
1. Yana Mykytyn/Kseniya Ramanouskaya (TAMUCC) def. Mariia Bakhtina/Rhea Makesar (UTRGV), 6-1
2. Adriana Jiminez Casado/Viktoriia Sedova (TAMUCC) def. Barbara Martinez/Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV), 6-0
3. Luna Buijtenhuijs/Valentina Urraco def. Emma Bousquet/Juliette Jalai (TAMUCC), 6-3
 
Singles (5, 4, 3, 1, 6, 2)  
1. Leticia Tarocco (TAMUCC) def. Barbara Martinez (UTRGV), 6-3, 6-3
2. Yana Mykytyn (TAMUCC) def. Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV), 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10:5)
3. Adriana Jimenez Casado (TAMUCC) def. Rhea Makesar (UTRGV), 6-2, 6-1
4. Kseniya Ramanouskaya (TAMUCC) def. Luna Buijtenhuijs (UTRGV), 6-2, 6-1
5. Mariia Bakhtina (UTRGV) def. Emma Bousquet (TAMUCC), 6-3, 6-1
6. Juliette Jalai (TAMUCC) def. Valentina Urraco (UTRGV), 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10:8)

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