Julia Rallying
Akalina Sanchez

Women's Tennis

Women's Tennis Hits the Road to Face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sunday

CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs women's tennis team hits the road to face off against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.
 
The match was originally scheduled for last Tuesday but with the high chance of rain, both teams decided to move the match to the weekend.
 
This is the first of six straight road matches for the Broncs before coming back home on February 26 against the Islanders.
 
Last Time Out
The Broncs picked up their first home victory after defeating the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas 4-3 on Sunday at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
 
The Broncs (3-2) swept through the doubles matches to grab the early 1-0 lead. The team of Katia Stavroulaki and Natacha Minc defeated the duo of Paula Saenz and Erika Larrea 6-4 on court three. Christel Amsallem and Lison Le Biavant clinched the doubles point for the Broncs after defeating Tabata Lua and Nadia Grlj 6-4 on court two.
 
On court one, the team of Dominique Esparza and Mariana Ranzahuer found themselves trailing 3-4 to Mariaxi Herrera and Marija Dimitrovska on court one. Esparza and Ranzahuer rallied to close out the doubles matches with a 7-6 (7-1) victory.
 
In singles, Amsallem added to the Broncs lead with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Lua on court three. The Javelinas (0-1) got on the scoreboard with a win on court six but Stavroulaki answered with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Dimitrovska on court two. After the Javelinas picked up another point on court four, Le Biavant beat Saenz in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 on court five.
 
Scouting the Islanders
The Islanders enter the match with a 2-1 record. They are coming off of a sweep of UMBC on January 24. Their only loss came at the hands of BYU.
 
The Islanders have three players with two wins in the dual match season in Jelena Dzinic, Maider Martin and Judit Vives.
 
Dzinic is 2-0 while playing in the No. 2 singles spot. Martin is 2-1 at the No. 4 singles spot and Vives is 2-0 at the No. 1 singles spot.
 
In doubles, Martin and Celia Rodriguez lead the way with a 2-1 record while playing at the No. 1 spot. Dzinic and Chelsea Horan are 1-2 at the No. 2 spot while Vives and Kerry Galhos are 1-0 at the No. 3 spot.
 
The Series
The Broncs are 2-21 against the Islanders all-time in a series that dates back to 2000.
 
Both of these teams faced each other twice last season as it was the Islanders who came away with both victories. The Broncs dropped the first match 0-6 in Corpus Christi on February 10 and then dropped the season finale 0-4 at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
 
The last time the Broncs recorded a win over the Islanders was on February 17, 2007 as they picked up the 4-3 win in Corpus Christi.
 
Globetrotters
The Broncs currently have nine student-athletes on the roster representing six different countries including Colombia, England, France, Greece, Mexico and the United States.
 
Next Up
The Broncs will hit the road to face the University of Texas at Arlington on February 14 in neutral site match in San Antonio.

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Players Mentioned

Christel Amsallem

Christel Amsallem

5' 4"
Junior
Mariana Ranzahuer

Mariana Ranzahuer

5' 2"
Sophomore
Katia Stavroulaki

Katia Stavroulaki

5' 6"
Sophomore
Lison Le Biavant

Lison Le Biavant

5' 5"
Freshman
Natacha Minc

Natacha Minc

5' 2"
Freshman
Dominique Esparza

Dominique Esparza

5' 8"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Christel Amsallem

Christel Amsallem

5' 4"
Junior
Mariana Ranzahuer

Mariana Ranzahuer

5' 2"
Sophomore
Katia Stavroulaki

Katia Stavroulaki

5' 6"
Sophomore
Lison Le Biavant

Lison Le Biavant

5' 5"
Freshman
Natacha Minc

Natacha Minc

5' 2"
Freshman
Dominique Esparza

Dominique Esparza

5' 8"
Freshman