CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's tennis team is riding a three-match winning streak into Tuesday's 3 p.m. South Texas Showdown presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
When UTRGV (3-1) and TAMUCC (9-2) faced each other two weeks ago in Edinburg, the Islanders returned home with a 6-1 win. But the Vaqueros clinched the doubles point in that match, as they have in every match this season. UTRGV head coach
West Nott believes continuing that success will be instrumental against TAMUCC.
"Right now, the energy is great. We haven't strung together three wins in a row yet since I've been here, so this was huge for the momentum and just the overall confidence of the team," Nott said.
"We haven't dropped a doubles point yet, and that's really key. If we can get off to a good start against these guys, that'll give us a lot of confidence going into singles, and then hopefully we can get some more first sets in singles and build from there. I think that's the key, is just having a great start against Corpus Christi."
UTRGV's last victory against the Islanders came in Feb. 2018. TAMUCC leads the all-time series 35-3. The Vaqueros pushed the Islanders in the match two weeks ago, playing two matches to three sets and keeping six sets within two games.
The team has made big mental strides since that season-opening match and has handled adversity well. They bring a lot of energy to the court, and they'll look to channel and use that energy on Tuesday.
"They're the pinnacle of where we're trying to go. They're a really tough team. I think we have enough players right now to get it done," Nott said. "We just have to play smarter. We have to play tougher. We have to play together and just play a complete match from A to Z."
The fantastic freshmen
Marjorie Souza and
Barbara Martinez garnered more praise from their coach for their efforts in UTRGV's 4-3 win over Prairie View A&M last weekend. Souza improved to 2-1 in singles after moving up to the No. 2 singles spot. Martinez is 3-0 in doubles, with two of those wins coming with Souza as a partner, and 2-1 in singles.
"I'm really proud of the freshmen.
Marjorie Souza battled like a champ this weekend. She handled the pressure well. And
Barbara Martinez has been clutch so far in doubles coming through and taking care of business. I was impressed with those two," Nott said.
Sophomore
Lea Karren and seniors
Katarina Sasaroga and
Sandra Putz have also played tough in singles and doubles to get UTRGV in a good spot ahead of the showdown with TAMUCC.
Support UTRGV Women's Tennis |
Become a Fan on Facebook |
Follow us on Twitter |
Follow us on Instagram |
Follow us on YouTube
