Young team, full plate

A year ago, they were a relatively young team. By season’s end, women’s tennis were the first WAC champions in UTRGV history. Since the May 1 championship, the landscape of the team has changed drastically.

Their first-year Head Coach Stephanie Wooten-Quijada left the program to lead another team after the historic season. Three seniors graduated and two other women transferred out of the program.

So again, it’s a youthful women’s tennis team that will take the court this spring. Three freshmen and a sophomore transfer are new to the squad.

The void in coaching was filled by longtime Tennessee coach Sonia Hahn in August. Hahn said a young team benefits from lots of matches to gain experience.

“It’s always a good thing that you can compete as much as you can, before conference matches start,” Hahn said. “This team needs to get a lot of experiences and competition. I think that’s the best preparation you can have going into the season.”

The women have a busy schedule coming out of winter break, and that’s putting it lightly. They will compete 11 times between January and February, traveling solely in Texas with four home matches mixed in.

Hahn shared both pros and cons of a team comprised of many just starting as college athletes or new to the program.

“It’s always great when you have tons of enthusiasm and willingness. They’re excited about the season, as the upperclassmen are as well,” Hahn said. “The difficult thing is they just haven’t gone through the battle yet to really understand what it takes. It goes both ways, but as long as they have the excitement, that’s all that matters.”

Dominique Ibarra is only a sophomore, but her part in the 2015-2016 championship team qualifies her as a veteran. In singles matches last year, she amassed a 16-9 record. The Spaniard said the team has come into its own under Hahn at this point.

“Everything is going good, we have adapted to the new rules. We adapted well,” Ibarra said. “[Hahn is] really organized and strict and that’s good for us. We have a pattern to follow.”

The second-year player is looking forward to a lot of competitive action.

“I love playing matches” she said. “The spring season is the best part. I really enjoy playing. The excitement, playing hard I think, for me, that’s the most exciting part.”

Also on the team are juniors Doris Aleksovska and Dominique Esparza. Marine Darzyan is a sophomore transfer from the University of Evansville. The three freshmen are Anastasia Belyaeva, Chloe Leclere and Amanda Guardia, the only American-born player on the roster.

The team could return the entire roster next year since there are no seniors and build chemistry if it is able to stay intact.

One former tennis player has made a transition into a volunteer assistant coaching role. Julia Perez appeared in matches each of her four seasons on the team. She played from 2013-15 in Edinburg, following her high school career at Roma High School. She made the jump from competing to preparing the team and is adjusting to the different role.

“It’s been fun. It doesn’t compare to actually being a player, it’s very different. I’ve seen the team grow since my freshman year,” Perez said. “We’ve gotten better every year. With these new girls coming in they’re getting better also and coaching them is something special.”

Perez explained what she considers her biggest asset to the women, especially the four newcomers to the Western Athletic Conference.

“Having three freshmen and one transfer, it’s a different conference for them. I can bring some experience from our conference. I’m very familiar with the teams that we play, even in our regular season matches,” she said. “I can help the girls get prepared mentally.”

The team of seven will continue to work throughout the spring in hopes of peaking the last weekend of April during the WAC Conference tournament in Las Cruces, N.M.

New-look women’s tennis will be on display Saturday when it faces St. Mary’s University as well as on Feb. 1, when it hosts Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.