Women’s Tennis serves big wins for UTRGV
Confidence is brewing on the UTRGV Women’s Tennis Team following a 4-2 start, including a 3-0 road trip that saw the Vaqueros net their first win in program history against the University of Houston Cougars, a Power Five school, on Feb. 9.
UTRGV Women’s Tennis head coach West Nott, when asked how the team is feeling at the start of the season, replied that they are feeling “really confident.”
“We like where we’re at,” Nott said. “We have some momentum now. … We got a little bit of match play under our belts and we feel a little bit battle-tested and tough.”
UTRGV sophomore Yaiza Vazquez was instrumental in securing the win against Houston, outlasting the Cougars’ Sonia Kovalenko in a back-and-forth match.
Vazquez said that to be able to come from behind and win against a program that UTRGV has never won against before, she and the team had to be “mentally tough.”
“We wanted to win, but no one was expecting [we would] win that way,” she said. “I also [fell behind] and I came back, so the team was really happy and energetic.”
More recently, the Vaqueros split their last two matches at home. In their victory against the University of Texas at El Paso on Feb. 17, UTRGV junior Marjorie Souza came from behind to win her match against Miners’ Carlotta Mencaglia, accounting for UTRGV’s first victory against UTEP since 2008.
Souza was “expecting a hard match” given Mencaglia’s prior success against Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and UTRGV’s record against the Miners in the past (3-10 all-time).
“I knew that [Mencaglia] was gonna be tough,” Souza said. “… They played Corpus [two days] before us and she was the only one that won her match, so I was like, ‘OK, it’s gonna be tough.’ So, I think I went into the match with that mindset and I just stayed focused all the time and I think it was good.”
The team is looking to continue to improve, specifically in its doubles game and in-game mindset.
“We haven’t done too well in the doubles points and we’re hoping to snatch one of those here in the upcoming matches,” Nott said. “So, we’re focusing a lot on just doubles and new combinations and strategies. But, overall, just being better competitors, just having the right mindset, the right attitude, the right teamwork and competitive spirit.”
The Vaqueros will play their next match against Texas A&M University-Kingsville on the road Wednesday before returning to the Orville I. Cox Tennis Center on the Edinburg campus to face Texas State University on Saturday. Admission is free.
After that match, they will head west to face the University of California-Riverside on March 5 and the University of California-San Diego on March 7.
Nott said the team is “really looking forward to the games ahead of them on the schedule, specifically their two-game California trip.”
“We haven’t been to California yet as a team with this group,” he said. “And, so, we’re hoping to have a great time and to go 2-0 in California.”
