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The UTEP women’s tennis team defeated Tarleton State 5-2 with some hard fought matchups in singles competition and were fortunate to have a couple of default victories to capture a victory Sunday afternoon at the El Paso Tennis Club.
The short-handed Miners, who are now 4-4 on the season, began the morning with doubles matchups between the Miners’ Lois Wagenvoort and Raven Bennett against Tarleton State’s Alicia Barbaroux and Sherine Salem. The pair of Lady Miners’ were defeated in a close contest 6-4 at the no. 1 spot.
The Miners also lost a close doubles matchup against the TexAnns’s with Milena Baigorria and Chloe Purkiss, representing the Miners at the no. 2 spot, against Shelby Fillingame and Neetika Stud battling in a tough match but were defeated 6-4 as well.
Tarleton State (2-2) was forced to forfeit the no.3 matchup do to an incomplete lineup.
The TexAnns’s also had to forfeit the no.5 and no. 6 position in singles competition, which gave UTEP an early 2-1 lead.
The Miners’ competed without Wagenvoort and Maria Paula Medina in singles competition, which moved up Raven Bennett to the top spot usually played by Wagenvoort. Bennett was defeated by Alicia Barbaroux 6-4, 6-1 and the Miners’ Alisa Moorozova easily defeated Tarleton State’s Shelby Fillingame at the no.4 spot 6-3, 6-3.
At the end of two sets between UTEP’s Chole Purkiss and Tarleton State’s Sherine Salem, the match was tied at one set a piece but Purkiss pulled out a 7-5 win in set three to seal the singles victory.
The last singles matchup of the day between UTEP’s Erandi Martinez and Tarleton Sate’s Neetika Stud did not disappoint and was intense until the end. Martinez earned the tough matchup at the no.2 spot 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
Throughout the day there were some visible struggles within the different matchups on the courts Sunday afternoon and several arguments between players concerning the points.
“I just felt like we made too many mistakes than we should have and that made the matches a lot more stressful and difficult than they needed to be,” said UTEP head coach Ivan Fernandez.
The arguments about the points was an issue that was visibly seen in the matchup between Martinez and Sud.
“These are things that the players are old enough and mature enough to understand, that they need to keep track of the score,” Fernandez said. “The bottom line is they need to keep up with the points and know what the score is and be able to say ‘no that was incorrect’ or ‘yes that was correct.’”
Even though the Miners were competing without several key players, several freshmen did step up and contribute immensely.
“The three freshmen that were in the single’s fought super hard and they really battled all the way to the end and I am proud of that,” Fernandez said.
UTEP’s next matchup will be at home against Wyoming on March 2 at the El Paso Tennis Club, first serve is set at 2 p.m.
