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The UTRGV Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams have made it to the Southland Conference playoffs, and both are working hard to get ready, according to players.
As of press time, the men’s record is 7-16 (3-2), and it is tied with Lamar University for the third seed in the SLC. Their best showing was against Nicholls State University, where UTRGV won 7-0 at the Orville I. Cox Tennis Center on the Edinburg campus.
Junior Paolo Bonaguro said the team expects to do well during the playoffs.
“Well, we feel grateful,” Bonaguro said. “Each year, it’s a privilege to play there. We’re very excited, and we have high expectations for ourselves. So, we expect to do very well, but we always keep our heads up. So very humble to win big.”
Men’s head coach Nathan Robinson said he knows it is going to be a battle, adding practice will not change for the team. The players are practicing like it is any other day.
“I mean, it’s just stay locked in mentally to what we do every day in practice,” Robinson said. “We believe that what we do gets us in the best spot to be ready to compete. Maybe, the only thing that might be a little different is that we kind of already know who we’re playing.”
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As of press time, the women’s record is 5-15 (3-6), and they are the seventh seed in the SLC. Their best showing was against Texas A&M University–Kingsville, where the Vaqueros won 6-1 at the Javelina Tennis Courts.
Sophomore Mariia Bakhtina said she feels very excited to participate in this year’s playoffs.
“I feel … happy because I feel like we deserve to go,” Bakhtina said. “I think we’ve been playing the teams well, like all the matches were pretty tight. And I feel like we should be there, like we should be in the tournament because we have [had] a good season.”
Women’s head coach West Nott said even as “underdogs,” the team will put up a fight during the playoffs.
“We probably play moving forward, just because we’re a little underhanded right now … but it’s really not an excuse,” Nott said. “… We stay loose, and we’ve been working hard all year. We’ve been trusting the process. … All the pressure’s on them to try to beat us two times in a row during the year, which I think is going to be tough for them to do.”
The women’s first playoff game was against Northwestern State University on Sunday in the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center in Beaumont. The men’s first playoff game will take place at 10 a.m. today against Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi in the same location. As of press time Friday, the results were unavailable.
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