SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA women’s tennis team will open their spring season this weekend when it heads to Nacogdoches for a pair of matches.
The Roadrunners will take on Prairie View A&M (0-1) at 1 p.m. on Saturday before meeting Stephen F. Austin at the same time the following day. Both contests will take place at the Schleif Tennis Complex.
Tenth-year head coach Erin Scott welcomes back six letterwinners from last year's squad that won 11 matches and advanced to the Conference USA Tournament quarterfinals. In fact, UTSA won its first postseason tilt in five years when they rallied past UTEP by a score of 4-2 in the opening round.
Headlining the returnees is three-time All-Conference USA selection Miriam Rosell Canudas. Despite missing the opening three contests a year ago due to injury, the junior from Torello, Spain, won a team-leading 15 singles outings with nine of her wins coming at the top spot in the lineup and five more at the No. 2 position. She finished the year with a four-match winning streak en route to earning first-team all-league accolades.
Also back for UTSA this season are seniors Jacobea Junger, Nicole Karaklis and Alena Shichkova, junior Lina Hallgren and sophomore Sonia Madroñal Medina. The squad's three newcomers are junior transfer Meredith Hopson, who comes to the Alamo City from the University of New Mexico, and true freshmen Caitlyn Resendiz and Charleen Tiwari.
Saturday marks the Roadrunners' first-ever matchup with Prairie View A&M, which will face Stephen F. Austin on Friday before playing UTSA the next afternon.
Meanwhile, SFA has downed the Birds six consecutive times and holds a 16-9 advantage in the all-time series. The Ladyjacks, who also are opening the year this weekend, picked up a 4-2 triumph in last year’s matchup at the UTSA Tennis Center on March 15.