BEAUMONT – Prior to the start of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) season, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's tennis team was predicted to finish sixth in the Southwest Division. 
 
Instead, the Vaqueros (11-9, 3-2 WAC Southwest) grinded out some tough wins and finished tied for second in the division. They're the No. 4 seed in the eight-team conference tournament happening this weekend at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center. UTRGV has high hopes to continue surprising people and claim a championship. The journey starts Friday at 3 p.m. with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 5 Seattle U (3-12, 2-2 WAC West). 
 
"We feel great. We're super excited," sophomore Isabelle Bahr said. "We were seeded pretty low pre-conference, so to now be the fourth seed is great. I think we shocked people by winning a couple of tight matches 4-3 and that only helps our confidence knowing we can go the distance and beat some tough teams." 
 
The Vaqueros boast a 7-2 all-time record against the Seattle U Redhawks and have won six consecutive meetings between the programs. UTRGV head coach West Nott is preparing the Vaqueros to be ready for an attacking style from the indoor-playing team, and they're hoping to use the outdoor setting to their advantage. 
 
"We played them and beat them up pretty good last year, but they added new players. They're going to be a tough team," Nott said. "I hope we can come through with our depth and get them outdoors on these slow courts and wear them down. We have to play good doubles and be ready for them to attack. When we get into singles, we just want to extend the rallies, make sure we have long rallies and break them down physically and mentally." 
 
UTRGV's freshmen, Marjorie Souza and Barbara Martinez, earned All-Conference Second Team honors as a doubles team. Souza also made the Singles All-Conference Second Team. Those awards have provided some extra motivation, not only for Souza and Martinez, but for the team. 
 
"I think it's a good feather in their cap. It's a nice thing to get recognized right before the tournament and I think it gives the team a lot of confidence as well," Nott said. 
 
The Vaqueros will turn their high-energy positivity all the way up to the maximum to try winning a conference tournament championship. With a win Friday, they'll move on to the semifinals to face the winner of No. 1 Grand Canyon vs. No. 8 Abilene Christian on Saturday at 1 p.m. The championship match is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday. 
 
"It'll be a fight every single match. We can win these matches, it's just a matter of keeping up our attitude and intensity the whole three matches we may have. I think we can do it," Bahr said.  

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