NATCHITOCHES, La. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's tennis team is ready to compete against the Southland Conference's (SLC) best at the second-annual SLC Fall Championships from Thursday to Saturday at Northwestern State's Jack Fisher Lady Demon Complex.
 
The doubles and singles champions from the SLC Fall Championships will receive an automatic bid to the 2025 ITA Conference Masters Championship, which is scheduled to run from Nov. 6-9 in San Diego. From there, four singles players and three doubles teams will qualify for their respective NCAA Championships.
 
The Vaqueros are sending three to this weekend's SLC Fall Championships as senior Yaiza Vazquez will battle in the singles draw and the duo of junior Rhea Makesar and sophomore Mariia Bakhtina will compete in the doubles draw.
 
Bakhtina and Makesar will start their run in the quarterfinals as they are set to battle the No. 2 seeded duo of Yana Mykytyn and Kseniya Ramanouskaya from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) Thursday at 11 a.m.
 
Last year, Bakhtina and Makesar made waves during the spring season, ending with a 12-3 record as a duo, which included a 6-1 win over Mykytyn and Ramanouskaya.
 
Vazquez will also start her run in the quarterfinals as she is matched up with No. 4 seed Josefa Fuenzalida from TAMUCC. Her match is scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday
 
The tournament follows a one-and-done format. If the Vaqueros win their quarterfinal matches Thursday, they'll move on to the semifinals on Friday.

UTRGV Thursday Schedule
Doubles
First Round
Mariia Bakhtina/Rhea Makesar (UTRGV) vs. No. 2 Yana Mykytyn (TAMUCC), 11 a.m.
 
Singles
First Round
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) vs. No. 4 Josefa Fuenzalida (TAMUCC), 3 p.m.
 
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