UTSA women’s tennis defeated the University of Houston 4-3 on Sunday at the UTSA Tennis Center.
The Roadrunners (12-0) secured their initial point following the doubles matches, but their 12th consecutive win against the Cougars (3-3) was no easy feat. Freshman duo Aoka Nagasawa and Natalia Guerrero swept 6-0 on court three and freshman Valeria Sanchez, alongside sophomore Ekua Youri, closed out their doubles 6-3 to pick up a point. Sanchez and sophomore Vittoria Baccino proved that they were forces to be reckoned with as Sanchez collected the first singles point for UTSA and Baccino withstood fatigue to defend The Birdcage as she notched the team’s fourth point to win the match.
“There are a lot of times where I’ve had to depend on the team for these points,” Sanchez said. “The team has carried me so far and I’m just grateful to be able to help today; I was pretty stoked.”
Sanchez finished off Elizaveta Morozova 7-5, 7-5 with a drop shot for the win, earning the first singles point for UTSA as she put the team back in the lead at 2-1.
On the fourth court, junior Arina Babenko held out to win an extended second set at 6-3, 7-6. With three matches remaining and a score sitting at 3-1, UTSA seemingly had all but officially won the game, but that could not have been further from the truth.
Youri and junior Letizia Corsini warded off the Cougars in the first and second set, respectively, but ultimately lost to their counterparts. Similar to the ‘Runners’ match against Tarleton State, the deciding factor would come from a match point and a third-set win from Baccino.
“I said it was the best match of my life,” Baccino said referring to her win against Tarleton State. “This one is the second.”
Nobody has been harder on Baccino over the past two days than herself. Visibly frustrated with her returns and misses, Baccino struggled to beat Heta Nuutinen.
“She’s good, so I knew it was gonna be a fight here,” Baccino said of the Finnish native. “I was watching the score and then when I realized that more or less it was my time I said, ‘Okay focus,’ and I did. I did everything I [could] to win.”
With her previously cramped hand wrapped, she was able to do what Nuutinen could not: focus on her goal, stabilize the ball and fight off late-game exhaustion to win her match 7-5, 6-3, 7-6. Baccino rarely missed a ball and rarely missed her serve, meanwhile Nuutinen struck every serve and return with a lot of power, eventually tiring herself out and losing the match because she swung a ball past the baseline.
“We are undefeated at home; we are undefeated everywhere,” Baccino added. “So when the national ranking comes out, we deserve to be in that, we deserve this.”
Looking to continue their win streak, UTSA will head on the road to begin conference play and take on both South Florida and Tulane at 10 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday, respectively, at USF Varsity Tennis Complex.
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