Freshman Sofia Selle focuses on the ball during a match against the University of North Texas on Feb. 18 at UTA Tennis Center.
UTA women’s tennis (4-12) was swept 4-0 by Arkansas State University (9-7) Friday at the UTA Tennis Center.
For Arkansas State, the game was the last of a 10-game road trip, which it finished 6-4. Meanwhile, in 16 games so far this spring, this is UTA’s eighth time getting swept.
“We just care about trying to get into the process of doing things better,” head coach Diego Benitez said. “We got to make sure that we continue with our patterns and we continue practicing our philosophy, which is being aggressive and be dictating the play.”
The match began with Arkansas State sweeping doubles. Both of UTA’s freshman duos lost, as Tasnime Ahamout and Natalia Gonzalez lost their match 6-0 and Flora Farkaslaki and Diana Kaibara lost their match 6-3.
Graduate student Elizaveta Mladentseva and freshman Sofia Selle’s match went unfinished, with the Maverick duo in a 5-2 lead.
“I tried to stay as calm as possible, accepting the errors that were coming,” Selle said. “She also made a few mistakes here and there, but it was because of the wind. It’s normal.”
Every Maverick lost their first set of singles play. Ahamout, Gonzalez and Kaibara then lost their second sets to complete the Red Wolf sweep.
Mladentseva and Cado’s matches went unfinished in the second set while they led. Selle, meanwhile, was down 4-2 when the final point was made.
“I played pretty well. I lost a tough first set; it was super close,” Cado said. “I was on it in the second one, I was leading the second set, so I definitely think it would have gone my way if I just kept playing the way I was playing.”
Benitez said the team lacked early intensity in the matchup, leading to a deficit it could not recover from.
UTA has a quick turnaround, staying at home for a match the next day against UT San Antonio. The game starts at 11 a.m. Saturday at the UTA Tennis Center.
“UTSA is another big rival of ours. We’ve been playing for so many years, so another good team, good conference,” Benitez said. “We gotta come back strong, forget about this quickly and continue focusing on what we do well, which is play with intensity at the right time and play good doubles.”
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