Updated 3:29 p.m. March 16, 2020
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all university-related events will be canceled until further notice, including all Western Athletic Conference games, according to an email sent from the Office of the President last Thursday.
The women’s golf team, women’s tennis team, both men’s and women’s track and field athletes and the men’s baseball team will compete on the road, starting with the UTRGV Women’s Golf Team, which is preparing for the Houston Baptist University Husky Invitational today and Tuesday.
Last year, the women placed eighth out 12 teams at this same invitational, and Women’s Golf Head Coach Bryan Novoa has a plan to obtain better results this time around.
“The main thing is getting the girls mentally prepared … putting the right plan in place for the next seven weeks,” Novoa said. “We’re developing strong relationships and strong trusts in each other, so I’m more pleased about that because I know that’s gonna produce the best results possible.”
On Saturday and Sunday, the women’s team will also compete in the Northern Arizona University Red Rocks Invitational in Sedona, Arizona.
“The main goal here is to get the momentum swing in the right direction, where we can hit the ground running and basically play great for six rounds in seven days,” Novoa said.
The UTRGV Women’s Tennis Team looks forward to upcoming matches against Grand Canyon University at 10 a.m. Saturday and at the same time Sunday against New Mexico State University, the first two games in the WAC tournament in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Last year at the same tournament, the players won their first game, against Chicago State University, and then fell to New Mexico State University the next day.
This year the women get a chance to redeem themselves against New Mexico State once again.
This will be Head Coach West Nott’s first-ever WAC Cluster.
“It’s my first experience,” Nott said. “I’m really looking forward to it to see what the level looks like within the conference. But I know Grand Canyon and New Mexico State, who we’re gonna be competing against right off the bat, are pretty tough teams in the conference, historically. So, we’ll have our hands full. But I think we’ll be well prepared for this situation.”
He explained how the change in altitude might affect the team.
“We’re on the road, so it’s out of our comfort zone a little bit,” Nott said. “They play in altitude, so the ball flies through the air a little bit. And then we’re gonna play a cluster here at home, so that would be right in our wheelhouse, in our comfort zone, and it’s gonna be hot just like how we like it and humid and then once we go to the WAC Championships in Kansas City, I think the playing field will be leveled for everyone. We all got the same [number] of matches … so we’ll just see who comes out on top.”
The UTRGV Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Teams will also hit the road to compete at the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunner Invitational.
Last year, UTRGV finished fifth out of six teams at the same invitational.
“It’s usually a pretty competitive meet,” said Darren Flowers, head coach for the Men’s and Women’s Track & Field teams.
Starting with the decathlon (100-meter run, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400-meter run) at noon Thursday, followed by the heptathlon (100 hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter run) at 12:30 p.m., both the men and women will use this meet as an opportunity to get outdoors and meet some of their future WAC competitors.
“We really wanna have a strong outdoor campaign, and this will be the start of it,” Flowers said. “So, we’re gonna start working on some of the [4×1] relays. … We gotta make sure we get four kids that are clicking and meshing, and making sure we’re getting handoff secured.”
Other outdoor events include the hammer throw, discus and longer hurdles.
“We got some really good 400-meter hurdlers, so it should be fun,” Flowers said.
Last but not least, the UTRGV Baseball Team will get back on the road to take part in the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi South Texas Showdown at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
UTRGV won both showdowns and this year the team intends to do the same.
“That’s a big game,” Head Coach Derek Matlock said. “They got a lot of great players. … I have a lot of respect for their coach. It’s a tough fight. They got good offensive players who are always real physical and really offensive, but we need to beat ’em if we’re gonna take over South Texas recruiting. We gotta get into Corpus and get players and we gotta beat ’em.”
During the weekend, the team will play its first game of the conference season against Seattle University in Bellevue, Washington.
“It’s not really what we do to prepare for another team, it’s, ‘We gotta play good,’” Matlock said. “We’re playing against ourselves more than we’re playing against other teams. If we play good, we’re gonna beat you.”
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