PRAIRIE VIEW – The last time the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women’s tennis team faced the Prairie View A&M (PVAMU) Panthers, they lost a tight match.
PVAMU (0-7) picked up a 4-3 victory over UTRGV in Edinburg on April 4, 2021. The Vaqueros (2-1) haven’t forgotten that match, despite boasting a 16-2 all-time record against the Panthers. They’re looking for redemption when they travel to the PVAMU Tennis Complex for a doubleheader Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“What I’m telling the team this week is, let’s try to go 2-0 this weekend against a tough Prairie View team,” UTRGV head coach West Nott said. “They actually beat us here last year 4-3 and (won) the deciding match 7-6 in the third, and it was a heartbreaker. But we know we can definitely take a step forward this year, we just have to go out and do it.”
Nott believes his student-athletes have the right mindset following a two-win weekend to claim another pair of road victories. He liked the toughness the Vaqueros showed in the opening week of their season.
“The weekend was huge for us because we got a lot of confidence,” Nott said. “We didn’t know how we’d perform when we were expected to win, and I really felt like we were in the driver’s seat. To see the team come through under the pressure and execute, I was really proud of them. Everyone did a tremendous job competing up and down the lineup.”
Senior Sandra Putz went 2-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles with her partner, junior Kristyna Mamicova, last week. Putz saw a lot of good from her team and particularly praised freshmen Barbara Martinez and Marjorie Souza for their efforts. She believes the Vaqueros will turn in another set of solid performances on Saturday.
“The team energy was really great and we had different lineups and that was great because everyone got a chance to play and it was a team effort, really,” Putz said. “We want to get two wins, and I think we really got a good chance. We’re ready to play hard and to win.”
Nott said UTRGV’s doubles play has “been a strong point so far” and he expects that to continue. The Vaqueros are focusing on accuracy and stamina with help from assistant coach Lisa Carvajal‘s drills, and that emphasis will be beneficial in the doubleheader.
“(Carvajal’s) got some great drills, so we’ve been executing those drills every day,” Nott said. “We’re setting down to some of the accurate drilling, long drilling that she likes to do, so that’s really a huge plus because I think that helps us develop our accuracy and our mentality to go the distance.”
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