For Immediate Release: January 27, 2001
Contact: Derek Smolik, UTPA Director of Athletic Media Relations

UTPA Men’s Tennis Opens Southland Play with 4-3 Loss Against Southeastern Louisiana

HOUSTON, TEXAS – Enrique Bastante, Kareem Abdullah and Pierre Cantu all picked up singles wins, but it wasn’t enough as the University of Texas-Pan American fell to Southeastern Louisiana 4-3, in it’s first-ever Southland Conference match Saturday afternoon.

The Broncs fell behind early when the Lions took the doubles point.  Mats Lindelof and Thomas Comba edged Matt Gower and Abdullah, 8-6, at number one for the deciding point.  Bastante and Cantu won 8-6 at number two over Aaron Tessier and Eric Subriats.

Bastante then came out and rolled past Tessier at number two singles, 6-0, 6-2, to tie the match up.  The Lions retook the lead when Subriats defeated Juan Saiz 6-3, 6-2.  Cantu won at number six, while Lindelof won at number one to make the match 3-2 SLU.  Thomas Comba clinched the match for the Lions with a tough 6-4, 7-5, win over Alex Cequea at number four singles.  Abdullah won the match of the day, a 6-1, 6-7, 11-9, decision over Milos Vasovic at number five.

“I’m disappointed in the outcome, we had a match within our grasp,” said Head Coach Scott Howard.  “We didn’t play well in the doubles.  We played pretty well in the singles, but the doubles hurt us.  That was a winnable match.  For the second straight match we got solid performances from Enrique and Pierre, but we need others to step up for us to go to the next level.”

The men’s team has a break before taking the court against Texas Lutheran and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on February 10^th at 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively.  Both matches will be at the Orville Cox Tennis Courts on the UTPA campus. 

SOUTHEASTERN 4, TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN 3

Singles
No. 1 -- Mats Lindelof (SLU) d. Matt Gower (UTPA), 6-4, 7-5
No. 2 -- Enrique Bastante (UTPA) d. Aaron Tessier (SLU), 6-0, 6-2
No. 3 -- Eric Subriats (SLU) d. Juan Saiz (UTPA), 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 -- Thomas Comba (SLU) d. Alex Cequea (UTPA), 6-4, 7-5
No. 5 -- Kareem Abdullah (UTPA) d. Milos Vasovic (SLU), 6-1, 6-7, 11-9
No. 6 -- Pierre Cantu (UTPA) d. Phillippe Darveau (SLU), 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
No. 1 -- Lindelof-Comba (SLU) d. Gower-Abdullah (UTPA), 8-6
No. 2 -- Bastante-Cantu (UTPA) d. Tessier-Subriats (SLU), 8-6
No. 3 -- Vasovic-Darveau (SLU) d. Saiz-Mangelschots (UTPA), 8-3

Records -- SLU 1-1, 1-0 SLC; UTPA 0-2, 0-1 SLC