UTSA women’s tennis took Abilene Christian University head on to beat the team 6-1 on Saturday at the UTSA Tennis Center.
Juniors Arina Babenko and Letizia Corsini were the last pair to finish their doubles match. Babenko and Corsini trailed Wildcats’ Spanish duo senior Hebe Toyos and junior Angela Del Campo for a majority of their doubles match, but they eventually evened out the score at 4-4. A consistent surge in dominance took over as the ‘Runners (7-0) held down the court to finish off the Wildcats (0-4), securing UTSA’s first point and putting the team on an upward trajectory that led to its seventh consecutive win.
“We were down during the match, but we try to stay together, to help each other and just focus on each point,” Babenko said. “I started feeling pressure when we started losing, but support [from] my partner really helped me. I managed to calm down and set up myself so we could do it together and win this match.”
Babenko went on to finish first in singles on court five, swiftly defeating her opponent, Alice Klinteby, 6-1, 6-2.
“It wasn’t [an] easy match because we had really long rallies, but I tried to focus and on what I’m gonna do to win,” Babenko said.
UTSA has had a difficult time beating the Wildcats in the past. Prior to this game, the Roadrunners had only won two of their last eight matchups, but they battled to change that.
“ACU is always a tough team, so we try not to think about that,” coach Ki Kroll said of Abilene Christian’s 6-3 hold over UTSA. “We just think about getting out there and playing hard, being positive, supporting your teammates and doing those things so that we can really focus on the strategies that we use in the match to win.”
Sophomore Ekua Youri and freshman Valeria Sanchez closed out their doubles match 6-1 to finish first. Corsini, Youri and freshman Aoka Nagasawa bested the Wildcats in two sets each. Freshman Valeria Sanchez withstood a competitive match against Maria Cascos to earn UTSA’s final singles point.
The current seven-game winning streak is the best start to a season for UTSA since Kroll took over as head coach in 2018.
“I try to get them to compete hard every time they go out,” Kroll said of the reason behind the team’s seven-game winning streak. “Right now, everybody’s working really hard in our practices so we’re just getting the fruits of that. They believe in what we’re doing and it translates into our matches.”
UTSA will hit the road to take on the Sam Houston Bearkats at 1 p.m. Friday at Chuck and Wanda Beckner Tennis Center.
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