UTEP's Elena Dibattista | Photo by Ruben R. Ramirez

UTEP Tennis set to take on Utah State Sunday morning

UTEP tennis (1-3) returns to the court after a week-long quarantine to face Utah State (1-4) at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 7 at the El Paso Swim and Tennis Club.

The Aggies are the second Mountain West opponent the Miners will face this season.

“We are very excited to be back on the court this week after not being able to play last week due to contact tracing from one our support staff members,” head coach Ivan Fernandez said. “We have been working as quickly as possible to get ready for this weekend, but five days without any practice or conditioning in the middle of our season has been challenging.”

UTEP outlasted UNLV on February 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada, to earn its first victory of the season. Kathleen Percegona defeated the Rebels’ Sam Smith in a third set tiebreaker at no. 5 singles to finish the comeback.

Also earning singles victories were Erandi Martinez and Elena Dibattista.

Martinez has two singles victories this season.

The Miners also secured the first doubles point of the season when pairs Thassane Abrahim and Veronika Lebisova and Percegona and Lyric Bonilla prevailed 6-4 and 7-5, respectively.

The Aggies lost their fourth consecutive match to Northern Arizona, 5-2, on Feb. 13.

“We are coming off a great win versus UNLV last time out and I expect this match with Utah State to be very competitive,” Fernandez said. “I am hoping to finally get to play a match with our full lineup and we are ready to hit the court again on Sunday.”

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