Vittoria Baccino is one athlete that refuses to crack under pressure. In fact, she thrives on it, which is the exact reason she received her first AAC Women’s Tennis Player of the Week accolade.
In two consecutive matches against Tarleton State University and University of Houston, Baccino served as the deciding point. She triumphed over the Texans’ Maria Castano 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and battled Houston’s Heta Nuutinen 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) to conquer both challengers in their first and third sets.
“Those two matches, they were the best matches of my life,” Baccino said referring to her clinches against the Texans and the Cougars. “I love to compete, I love to play, I love when there’s clinching and everybody’s watching you, I love to put on a show.
“I was saying to my mom after those matches, ‘Right now I can’t imagine my life without tennis’.”
Tennis was truly the reason behind Baccino’s decision to come to the U.S. in the first place. A country where she could have the best of both worlds and combine her pursuit of knowledge with her passion for tennis.
“In Italy, there is not a possibility of playing tennis at university. Once you choose university, you choose school,” Baccino said. “Since I was little, I always, always, always wanted to focus on tennis and try to [go] pro.”
“On one side, I want to think about my future so I want a degree, because if I got injured, ‘what I’m gonna do with my life?’ And then on the other side, I don’t want to quit tennis, I’ve played since forever. So in America, there is everything together,” Baccino said of the reason behind her decision to pursue a collegiate career in San Antonio.
Baccino shared that the idea to attend university in America was both hers and her coach’s in Italy. Though her mother and grandmother may not have initially been on board with Baccino moving so far from home, her whole family can now see how right she was to make the transcontinental leap. Her father, on the other hand, has been one of her biggest supporters from the moment she told him she wanted to move to her most recent matches.
“If that’s your dream, go. But when you decide to go, you go and you finish,” Baccino’s father told her. “But he’s always watching our matches on the live streaming services.”
While familial support is key to athletes success, mentality plays a huge role in their overall performance. An athlete can only be as good as their mind will allow them to be, but Baccino has the mentality of a seasoned pro who plays to win.
“I clinched against USF and I am happy because I beat an Italian,” Baccino said referring to her win against Margherita Marcon. “She beat me when I was a junior, so I remember her and clinching against her in their house, it was a nice change. I love to compete.”
The women’s tennis team is currently 13-1, only dropping a match to Tulane University on Saturday, are currently ranked No. 44 and are on the prowl to keep winning.
“I just keep working, because we are doing really good,” Baccino said. “I was here last year, and the best ranking was 61. It was tough, because I think we deserve it. I will not say we deserve to be number one, but among the 75 in the country, yes, definitely. We just keep practicing at our best. We need to compete as hard as we can and fight for the team, for the girls.”
While tennis may not be the most popular sport for fans to watch at UTSA, the level of intensity that these athletes play at makes every game worth watching.
“If they’re gonna come to the match, I’m not saying that they’re gonna always see us winning, but they’re gonna see our effort,” Baccino said of fans. “They’re gonna see all the passion that we have and the effort that we make.”
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