EL PASO, Texas – On the heels of a season-opening 7-0 thrashing of Western New Mexico, the UTEP tennis team (1-0) will cap its homestand by locking up with Abilene Christian (1-3) at 12 p.m. MT Saturday and long-time rival New Mexico (0-0) at 12 p.m. MT Sunday. The matches will be held at the El Paso Tennis & Swim Club, and admission is free.
"We are pumped to be hosting Abilene Christian and New Mexico this weekend," UTEP head coach
Ivan Fernandez said. "They are both very strong teams, and we are going to have to compete extremely well in order to give ourselves the best chance to win. This will be a great test for us to see what we need to continue to work on to become the team we want to be this spring."
Returnees
Vanessa Valdez and
Erandi Martinez set the tone in the victory against WNMU with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. Fellow returnee
Kathleen Percegona picked up a win at No. 5 singles. UTEP was locked in across the board, posting straight set wins at every position for singles action.
There were three triumphs in singles action from newcomers, including a pair from true freshmen
Eve Daniels and
Elena Dibattista. Fellow newcomer Lina Sáchica, who tops the squad in overall wins, also took care of business in her singles match.
The Miners are aiming for a 2-0 start for the second time in three seasons under Fernandez. A pair of wins would afford UTEP its first 3-0 beginning to a campaign in four years.
For complete coverage of UTEP tennis, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at
@UTEPWTennis (Twitter),
@UTEP_Tennis (Instagram) and
on Facebook or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at
UTEPMiners.com.
