Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women’s tennis team announced on Thursday that their spring season will begin on January 29 with a doubleheader against Weatherford College at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
The matches against Weatherford College will be the first of 23 matches, and the first of eight home matches, leading to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament which will be hosted by Lamar University from April 22-24 in Beaumont.
“I am really excited for the spring schedule because we are trying to move the program towards more consistency and more wins,” UTRGV head coach West Nott said. “I think the first season I was here we were 1 and 11 and I think last year, we won five matches so the goal this year is to increase that win total.”
The Vaqueros will spend the first five matches in February on the road as they visit Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, as part of the South Texas Showdown presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, on Feb. 2 before facing Mary Hardin Baylor on Feb. 4, Southwestern on Feb. 5, and Prairie View A&M in a doubleheader on Feb. 12.
The Vaqueros return home to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Feb. 15 before heading to Stephenville for three matches to face UT-Permian Basin on Feb. 18 and Montana State on Feb. 19 in neutral site matches and Tarleton on Feb. 20.
UTRGV will close out the month of February at home when it hosts Incarnate Word on Feb. 26 and Texas A&M-Kingsville on Feb. 27.
After a quick trip to St. Mary’s on March 6, the Vaqueros will be home to host Omaha on March 13 before hosting New Jersey Institute of Technology at the Brownsville Tennis Center on March 14.
“Last year, we traveled a lot out of state and this year we are playing all of our matches in state,” Nott said. “I am really excited about that because I want to see how good we are regionally and I think first we have to beat everyone locally, regionally, and within the state. I think if we can take care of business in our backyard that helps with building our program and culture.”
The Vaqueros open WAC play on March 19 when they face Sam Houston and Abilene Christian on March 20 in Huntsville. They will then compete in a couple of neutral site matches as they face New Mexico State on March 25 and UTEP on March 26 in Stephenville.
The Vaqueros will then face Stephen F. Austin on April 2 in a neutral site match in Stephenville before facing Tarleton on April 3 and then will close out the regular season against Lamar at home on April 16.
The 2022 NCAA Regional Championships will take place from May 6-14 at regional sites with the NCAA Championships taking place May 19-28 at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Illinois.
