EDINBURG, Texas (March 10, 2024) — The Morgan State men's tennis team continued its spring season this weekend as they traveled to south Texas for a series of challenging matches against some tough opponents. On Friday, they faced off with Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. The team returned to action in the Rio Grande Valley International as they took on the University of Texas Rio Grande on Saturday, followed by a Sunday matchup versus New Mexico State.
The Bears had a tough weekend as they fell to the Islanders, 6-1, and were unable to secure a win in their pair of matches at the Orville Cox Tennis Center — losing 7-0 to the Vaqueros on Saturday before dropping 4-0 against New Mexico State on Sunday.
MATCH ONE | Morgan State 1, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 6
Morgan began its weekend with a tough loss at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center Friday morning in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Islanders (9-3) battled out a pair of doubles wins for the early 1-0 lead in the match before playing out every dual to finish on top of the Bears. Morgan lost the first four singles matches before Mikeal Carpenter recorded the Bears sole victory of the day. The talented senior recorded a 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 win on court one against Avery Zavala.
MATCH TWO | Morgan State 0, Univ. of Texas Rio Grande 7
The Bears were shutout 7-0 by UTRGV. The Vaqueros (7-11) jumped out to a 1-0 lead after sweeping the doubles session. They carried the momentum into singles action, where they captured the first set on all six courts to maintain control of the match. It was a fierce and intense match on court five as Anthony Parris and Paolo Bonaguro battled it out in a lengthy duel. Bonaguro who managed to edge out Parris in the tiebreaker, winning the first set 7-6 (7:4) and proved to be too much as he dominated the second set, winning it 6-0.
Makkijha Brown wrapped the day with a competitive match against Ivo Isqueiro on court three. The junior fell behind in the first set, 6-4, before battling back to take the second set, 6-3. With the team victory secured for the Vaqueros, the pair played a 10-point tiebreaker in the third where Isqueiro would seal the win, 10:6.
MATCH THREE | Morgan State 0, New Mexico State 4
NM State quickly jumped in front as a pair of dominant wins in doubles play on courts one and two offset a loss at No. 3. Wallin and Campos then split up, however, each Aggie proved to be just as dominant on their own as Wallin collected a 6-1, 6-1, win at No. 2 while Campos earned a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 3. In need of just one more win, the Aggies' Henrik Lynum clinched the match for the Aggies with his first singles victory of the season – defeating his Morgan State counterpart by a score of 6-1, 6-1, to hand the Aggies their fifth duel win of the spring.
UP NEXT:
Morgan will quickly look to their next opponents as they will make the trip to Orlando, Florida, where they will square off against Fairleigh Dickinson University on Wednesday, March 13, before facing West Chester University of Pennsylvania on the following day.
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Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering more than 100 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.
