EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's tennis team is set to face UMKC on Friday at 1 p.m. at the Orville Cox Tennis Center in its first match of the Western Athletic Conference Cluster.
Friday's match will be the first of three matches this weekend as UTRGV will also face Grand Canyon and Seattle U.
WAC Cluster Schedule
Friday will also feature one other conference match as Grand Canyon takes on Chicago State at 9 a.m.
The complete schedule is as follows:
Friday: Grand Canyon vs Chicago state at 9 a.m., UTRGV vs UMKC at 1 p.m.
Saturday: New Mexico State vs Chicago State at 9 a.m., UTRGV vs Grand Canyon at 1 p.m., and Seattle U vs UMKC at 4 p.m.
Sunday: Grand Canyon vs New Mexico State at 9 a.m., UTRGV vs Seattle U at 1 p.m., and Chicago State vs UMKC at 4 p.m.
All matches will be played at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
Last Time Out
UTRGV (7-8) picked up the 4-3 win over New Mexico on March 18.
Anastasia Belyaeva and Lasya Patnaik got things rolling in doubles with a 6-2 win on court three. Marine Darzyan and Dominque Ibarra clinched the point with a 6-3 win on court one.
New Mexico won on courts six and two before Ibarra won on court three tying the match at two.
Dominique Esparza followed with a win on court one.
New Mexico made things interesting with a win on court five but it was Belyaeva who clinched the win for UTRGV with a win on court four.
Scouting UMKC
UMKC is 8-8 on the season with four of those wins coming either on the road or in a neutral site match. UMKC is coming off of a 5-2 win over Iowa State and is currently riding a three-match win streak after also defeating Northwest Missouri State and Missouri State.
Melinda Johnson leads the team in singles wins with a 10-5 record playing mainly at the No. 3 spot. Aliona Ladutska is 9-4 on the season while playing all her matches at No. 1. As a team, UMKC is 41-41 in singles play this year.
In doubles, UMKC is 19-24 with Johnson and Yana Grechkina lead the way with six wins. Katie Fries and Ioanna Lathouri have posted a 5-2 record this season.
The All-Time Series
UTRGV is 5-1 all-time against UMKC in a series that dates back to 2014.
Both teams met last season and it was UMKC who came away with the 6-1 victory in Kansas City.
The last time UTRGV defeated UMKC came back on April 30, 2016 when it picked up the 4-1 win to advance to the WAC Championship match in route to the WAC Tournament Championship.
Globetrotters
UTRGV currently has eight student-athletes on the roster representing seven different countries, including the Macedonia, Mexico, Russia, Spain, India, Germany and Denmark.
Next Up
UTRGV will be back in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. when it faces Grand Canyon at 1 p.m. at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
Support UTRGV Women's Tennis |
Become a Fan on Facebook |
Follow us on Twitter |
Follow us on Instagram |
Follow us on YouTube
