SAN ANTONIO — UTSA women’s tennis defeated Lamar University 5-1 on Saturday at the UTSA Tennis Center, snapping its four-game losing streak.
The ‘Runners (9-10) trounced the Cardinals (9-11) in near-perfect fashion. Singles play started strong for UTSA, with the first four points earned in succession. The Roadrunners faltered in the fifth match, as Lamar scored its lone point, but UTSA recovered in its final singles match, earning five points to Lamar’s one. Due to the damp weather and a dominant performance from UTSA, the doubles matches were cancelled.
“I thought the energy was really good, and I thought everybody gave great effort,” coach Ki Kroll reflected after the match. “They’re trying as hard as they can, and that’s what we want. We just want them to play their game style, play as hard as they can.”
Freshman Laia Tarazona Peyro put the Roadrunners’ first point on the scoreboard. The Spain native defeated Lamar’s Eva Gumenyuk, 6-1, 6-1. Junior Akari Tomoyose finished soon after with a shutout set and a 6-2 win against Martina Alcaino, securing the second point of the match. Freshman Celine Absawi’s skill set far outshone the Cardinals’ Arina Gudovskaya, as Absawi prevailed, 6-2, 6-1.
UTSA nearly suffered its first loss of the match during sophomore Valeria Sanchez’s game against Luana Paiva. Sanchez grew frustrated as she repeatedly got too close to the net, leaving herself unable to volley Paiva’s shots sent toward the back of the court. Sanchez ultimately bested Paiva, 6-3, 7-6. The sixth match went to Lamar as sophomore Milica Milosavljevic lost her game 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to Varvara Popadina, setting the overall score at 4-1. Milosavljevic struggled to get her serves over the net and return the ball in bounds against Popadina.
The Roadrunners ended on a high note with sophomore Natalia Castaneda Guerrero’s 7–5, 6-3 victory over Cardinals’ Savannah Bijlsma. Extended rallies stretched the match. While some shots barely cleared the net, others soared high above, momentarily slowing the match’s pace.
“I’m happy with all my players. They work hard. They put out the effort,” Kroll shared. “I just think, overall, we’re doing good. We’re getting better in a lot of different things on the court, and it’s showing up in our matches.”
UTSA will next compete in the American Conference tournament from April 16-19 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center in Houston, Texas.
