The UTRGV Women’s Tennis Team will hit the road to compete against Sam Houston State University on Friday and Stephen F. Austin State University on Saturday.
These matches will both be held away from UTRGV’s home court and will show how the team fares with competing back-to-back for the first time this spring season.
Head Coach West Nott said the team has prepared to play against the Bearkats and Ladyjacks the following day.
“I think it’s super tough but that’s why we’ve been training all year to prepare for situations like this,” Nott said. “But, hopefully, we get stronger. Especially on the second day, I think that’s what you’d like to see from the team. Have a good start and actually just improve the quality of the tennis over the two days.”
UTRGV will compete against Sam Houston, a school it last met in October at the Bearkat Invitational, an event held by the opposing team, to close out the fall season.
Sophomore Sandra Putz, who won The Flight C Singles Championship at the invitational, said she plans to keep the momentum going in the spring season.
“I just want to use the win from the fall … build up confidence and, like, just learning from my matches and just continue doing the same,” Putz said.
Coach Nott said he has high hopes for the first match.
“Yeah, [Sam Houston is] very good,” he said. “I would say an older team than us, and we’re a little bit inexperienced. But I think there’s no reason we can’t make the necessary adjustments to, hopefully, make it a little tougher this time and maybe even sneak out a win, you never know.”
As for Stephen F. Austin, UTRGV has not faced off against the university one-on-one since 2010. The universities were scheduled to play last April but the match was canceled due to inclement weather.
They will play in Huntsville against Sam Houston and in Nacogdoches against Stephen F. Austin.
For more information about the team, visit goutrgv.com or download the GoUTRGV app.
