BELTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's tennis team will be heading north this weekend for its first road trip of the season. 
 
UTRGV (0-1) will play at Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday at 1 p.m. and at Southwestern at 12 p.m. on Sunday. The Vaqueros opened their season against a "gritty" Texas A&M-Corpus Christi team and want to build on the positives they saw. 
 
"I thought we fought extremely well as a whole and they played their hearts out," UTRGV coach West Nott said. "We have a good idea now where we stand and what we need to work on. The future is bright. We are looking to build upon this and hopefully string some wins together." 
 
Some of the goals for the weekend are to continue improving and to test the depth of the lineup, which is something Nott speaks highly of. He praised two UTRGV newcomers, freshmen Marjorie Souza and Barbara Martinez, for exceeding his expectations in doubles to help the Vaqueros clinch the point in the season opener. 
 
The impressive newcomers combined with proven veterans and the team's mentality have Nott excited to try to give everyone a chance to showcase their skills in the next two matches. 
 
"We have a lot of depth this year. I think that's our strength," Nott said. "We're going to try to use everyone … that way we can learn a little more about our lineup and just keep the chains moving forward with everyone involved." 
 
Saturday's match will be Mary Hardin-Baylor's season opener. UTRGV is 2-0 all-time against the Crusaders. Sunday's match will be the second of the season for the Pirates. This will be the first time UTRGV faces off with Southwestern, which Nott called one of the top NCAA Division III programs. 
 
The cold weather conditions may pose a bit of a challenge, but Nott is confident the Vaqueros can stay focused and competitive and have a strong weekend. 
 
"We're going up north so the weather might be a little cold, so those will be the tricky things to manage this week," Nott said. "But our attitudes are in the right spot, our mindset is good, so I think we have a good chance to do some really good things." 


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