On the heels of winning two of its past three matches, the UTEP tennis team (2-4) will play at regional rival New Mexico (5-2) at 12 p.m. MT Thursday.
The Miners and Lobos were originally slated to lock up in El Paso on February 24, but the match was cancelled due to a positive Covid-19 case and subsequent contact tracing for UTEP.
“We feel very fortunate to be able to make up our cancelled match with UNM,” UTEP head coach Ivan Fernandez said. ‘We feel like we really haven’t played very much this semester, and we need as many matches as possible before the C-USA Championships. UNM always gives us a great match, and we expect the same tomorrow.”
The Miners are coming off a 7-0 drubbing of UTPB on March 18. They also rallied past UNLV, 4-3, on the road on February 20, which ignited the sequence of winning two of three. The lone blemish came against Utah State on March 7, but UTEP bounced back in a big way last time out.
The Lobos enter Thursday’s match at 5-2 on the season, including a 4-3 win against Grand Canyon last time out on March 8. It will be their first home match of the season.
Erandi Martinez continues to set the tone for the Miners with a record of 4-1 in singles play, including 3-1 at No. 2. Veronika Lebisova is coming on strong with back-to-back victories to improve to 2-3 on the year. Kathleen Percegona also sports a mark of 2-3.
In doubles action the tandem of Thássane Abrahim and Lebisova are off to a perfect 4-0 start.
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