TENNIS ADVANCES AT UTSA
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240

SAN ANTONIO, TX-Junior Sebastian Aspillaga (Santiago, Chile/Louisville/Lycee Francaise de Chili) advanced to the quarterfinals as The University of Texas-Pan American men's tennis team began play at the Texas-San Antonio Sonterra Invitational at the UTSA Tennis Center Friday.

After a first round bye, Aspillaga defeated Brandon Silvester of UTSA, 6-3, 6-2, then lost to Luis Moris of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

Sophomores Oliver Steil (Brunssum, The Netherlands/AF North International School) and Nik Porter (Tunbridge Wells, England/Bennett Memorial School) also won their first matches. Steil defeated Kenton Venhuizen of St. Edward's, 7-5, 6-1, then lost to John Nallon of Texas A&M, 6-4, 6-4. Porter downed Luis Abundis of St. Edward's, 6-4, 7-6, then lost to Baylor's Ivo Dvorak, 6-2, 6-1.

Freshman Gary Bianco (Annecy, France/Lycee Berthollet) lost to Dash Connell of Texas A&M, 5-7, 6-4 (10-7). Junior Jeremy Salvo (Coquitlam, BC /Centennial Secondary) drew a first round bye, then lost to John Reckewey of Baylor, 7-5, 6-3. Salvo defeated Jake Frederick of TAMU-CC in the consolation round, 6-0, 6-1, then had to withdraw from his match against Texas' Garrett Snyder due to an injury. Sophomore Rehman Esmail (Coquitlam, BC /North Carolina State/Dr. Charles Best Secondary) lost to Zack Malmgren of Texas A&M, 6-1, 6-1, then lost his consolation match to Jorge Jimenez of St. Edward's, 6-3, 6-2.

"We had some tough draws, and we had some tough matches," said UTPA Head Coach Eduardo Provencio. "We played pretty well. Sebastian did a good job. He played well, and had a good match in the quarterfinals, but, unfortunately, he just ran out of steam. This is the strongest tournament field we've seen all season."

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