WACO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's tennis team will be well represented at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Texas Regional this weekend at Baylor, and the student-athletes are excited for the opportunity to compete against the best. 
 
Graduate student Isabelle Bahr, junior Kristal Dule and sophomore Yaiza Vazquez will start the tournament, which runs Oct. 12-16 at the Hurd Tennis Center and Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in Waco, with singles action in the qualifying draw Thursday morning. Bahr and Vazquez will play at 8 a.m., and Dule will play at 10 a.m. 
 
Doubles action gets underway Thursday afternoon. Vazquez and Dule will play their first tournament together, and last year's ITA representatives Bahr and junior Marjorie Souza will compete together. Both doubles teams will play their first match at 4 p.m. 
 
Souza will begin her singles campaign Friday in the main draw. 
 
"We're really excited because some of our players haven't played the ITA Regionals before so they'll get their shot against the top players in Texas and I'm excited to see what they do against them," head coach West Nott said.  
 
The Vaqueros will play a second singles match Thursday afternoon based on their results in the qualifying Round of 64. Wins will push them to the qualifying round of 32, where Bahr and Vazquez would play at 12:30 p.m. and Dule would play at 2 p.m. Losses will move them to the consolation bracket, and those matches will be played at 12:30 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. 
 
UTRGV has been focused on fitness and mental toughness in preparation for this tournament. The Vaqueros had good success at their first fall tournament one month ago in Corpus, with Vazquez and sophomore Valentina Urraco – who is an alternate for this tournament – winning their singles draws while Souza and Dule reached the finals in their respective draws. The team is feeling confident and ready to go. 
 
"We've been talking about competing a lot and handling adversity, designing drills where it makes it tough on them and puts them in pressure situations," Nott said. "Getting out there against these elite players, if they can juggle problem solving at a really high level, we'll have a chance to be successful and that's what I'm hoping to see out there." 
 
UTRGV Thursday Schedule 
Singles 
Qualifying Round of 64 
Isabelle Bahr (UTRGV) vs. Ana Veroux (AMCC), 8 a.m. 
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) vs. Roberta Sechi (SHSU), 8 a.m. 
Kristal Dule (UTRGV) vs. Isid Hernandez (UIW), 10 a.m. 
 
Qualifying Round of 32 (TBD)
Isabelle Bahr (UTRGV) vs. Lyric Bonilla (UIW) or Sonya Kovalenko (UH), 12:30 p.m. 
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) vs. Stanislava Shulzhenko (UNT) or Noelia Lorca (TSU), 12:30 p.m. 
Kristal Dule (UTRGV) vs. Adeliya Mukhutdinova (TSU) or Anushka Ashar (Rise), 2 p.m. 
 
Consolation Qualifying Round of 32 (TBD) 
Isabelle Bahr (UTRGV) vs. Lyric Bonilla (UIW) or Sonya Kovalenko (UH), 12:30 p.m. 
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) vs. Stanislava Shulzhenko (UNT) or Noelia Lorca (TSU), 12:30 p.m. 
Kristal Dule (UTRGV) vs. Adeliya Mukhutdinova (TSU) or Anushka Ashar (Rise), 1:30 p.m. 
 
Doubles
Qualifying Round of 64 
Yaiza Vazquez/Kristal Dule (UTRGV) vs. Divna Ratkovic/Darya Schwartzman (Rice), 4 p.m. 
Marjorie Souza/Isabelle Bahr (UTRGV) vs. Paula Cerda/Roberta Sechi (SHSU), 4 p.m. 

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