KINGSVILLE, Texas – With the first month of the season in the books and owners of a 3-3 record, the Texas A&M-Kingsville tennis team is preparing to take the court for the first time in March, which for them starts on Thursday with a 1 p.m. match against the UTRGV Vaqueros at 1 p.m. at the Orville I. Cox Tennis Center in Edinburg, Texas, followed on Sunday by a 12 p.m. contest against the Prairie View A&M Panthers in Prairie View, Texas.
Neither team is an unfamiliar opponent for the Javs, who've taken on the Vaqueros at least once in every season since 2013-14 and who last played the Panthers during the 2019-20 campaign, when they scored a 5-2 victory. Less than three weeks after that win, the Javelinas made their most recent trip to Edinburg and snatched a 5-2 win from UTRGV. TAMUK also beat the Vaqueros 5-2 when the sides met in 2020-21, but later that same day, the Vaqueros won a rematch, 4-0.
The Javelinas' win over UTRGV in 2021 was a come-from-behind effort in which the Javs were defeated in doubles play, then had Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.), Raina Zaffar (Guwahati, India) and Milou ter Morsche (Goor, Netherlands) all drop the first set of their singles matches before coming back to win. Sophomore Alessa Maier (Hechingen, Germany) also had her match go to a third set before she found a way to win.
These two matches will give the Javs a chance to return to the form they showed during a three-match win streak they put together in February that included wins over Texas A&M-Texarkana, Weatherford College and Clark University Atlanta.
Sophomore Noemi Sante (Dusseldorf, Germany) played a key role in those triumphs, in each case teaming up with ter Morsche to lock up a win in doubles play, then also coming out on top in her singles match. Against Weatherford College on Feb. 12th, both Sante and ter Morsche lost the first set of their singles matches, but rebounded to win each flight and secure a Javelina win.
The spring season for the Vaqueros started the same way it did for the Javelinas, with a loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but UTRGV rebounded by winning five of their next six before suffering a 7-0 defeat to Tarleton on Feb. 20th. Coach West Nott's team has been especially tough in doubles play so far in 2022, as they own a winning record in all three flights, including a combined mark of 11-3 in the No. 2 and No. 3 flights.
The Panthers had won three straight before dropping a 4-3 decision to Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb. 24th. During that win streak, PVAMU didn't drop a single match in doubles play and they've also received strong play in the No. 1 spot of late, as sophomore Gabrielle Leslie has won four-in-a-row out of the top spot.
Be sure to visit Javelinaathletics.com at the end of each day for a recap of all the action in Edinburg and Prairie View. To keep up with Javelina tennis throughout the season, follow @JavelinaTennis on Twitter and Instagram, like the Javelina Sports Facebook page, subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel and visit Javelinaathletics.com.
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