The UTRGV Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams will participate in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament Friday through Sunday at the Brownsville Tennis Center.
The Vaqueras will play in the WAC Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will compete against fifth-seeded Chicago State University in the quarterfinals at 9 a.m. Friday.
Friday’s winner will advance to the semifinals against Grand Canyon University at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The championship game will take place at 9 a.m. Sunday.
For the season, the women’s tennis team has a 3-2 conference record, tying with No. 2 seed New Mexico State University and No. 3 University of Missouri-Kansas City.
In an interview with The Rider, women’s tennis Head Coach Sonia Hahn said the team’s strengths are loving to compete and fighting hard.
“They fight hard because they want to represent the university and they’re proud as far as who they want to represent,” Hahn said.
Her coaching style is team-oriented. She focuses on having the team work together as one unit.
“As individual as it is, when you get to college, it’s really team oriented,” Hahn said. “It takes the whole team to work together and compete
hard together.”
The last time the women’s tennis team won the WAC tournament was three years ago, when it was also hosted in Brownsville.
Dominique Ibarra, a psychology senior, has been named the WAC’s Women’s Single Player of the Week twice this season, and has won 12 straight matches since Jan. 19.
In her freshman year, the team won the WAC tournament, and she believes the team has a great chance at winning the championship again.
Ibarra’s goals after graduation include getting a master’s degree in clinical psychology and playing tennis with a scholarship at Newcastle University in England.
“I would also love do to sports psychology, because I want to keep continuing to help athletes just like me,” she said. “The mental part is such a big part of any sport.”
On March 22, the Vaqueras defeated Chicago State 6-1. On April 6, the team became the first WAC team to defeat Grand Canyon University this season, with a score of 4-3.
Last Saturday, the team played its last conference game of the season against Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Results were not available at press time.
Men’s Team
The men’s tennis team is also looking forward to competing in the WAC Tournament, as the No. 5 seed.
UTRGV was defeated 4-3 by Chicago State on April 12, and closed the regular season April 13, with a 7-0 loss to Grand Canyon.
The Vaqueros have received three WAC Doubles Team of the Week honors this season, even though it is one of the youngest teams in the conference, with over four freshmen on the team playing for the first time in the tournament.
Head Coach Dann Nelson said the tough part of this year has been the close matches the team has had.
“We’ve played several really close matches this year and come up short and, so, just finding a way to get over that hump to figure out ways to win those close matches,” Nelson said.
Yehonatan Kaufman, a communication studies senior, said being captain of the team has been a big accomplishment for him.
Even though he was injured for most of the season, Kaufman hopes he can help the team in the tournament.
Asked about his plans for winning the WAC tournament, he replied, “We’re planning to fight hard as a team, be there for each other, support each other, fight for every point and see what the future holds for us. We need to go there and show what we have and I’m sure we can do well.”
In the WAC quarterfinals, the Vaqueros will compete against fourth-seeded Chicago State at 1 p.m Friday. The winner will advance to the semifinals to compete against top-seeded Grand Canyon at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The men’s championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.
The Brownsville Tennis Center is located at 3 Event Center Dr.
