MIDLAND, Texas - The UT Arlington men's and women's tennis teams opened the 2018 fall campaign with a strong showing in the Racquet Club Invitational in a three-day tournament that concluded on Sunday.
Momoka Horiguchi highlighted the stay with a run into the tournament's semifinals, while
Almudena Boza rebounding from a main-draw defeat to reach the finals of the consolation draw. On the men's side, Mauricio Del Rio battled through a tough draw to reach the quarterfinals.
"I am proud of how we came out in our opening tournament and competed, we gained a lot of experience this weekend," UTA coach
Diego Benitez said. "Momoka played really well and was able to defeat one of the seeded players. It is always good to get the first tournament under our belts and I am excited to see how we can build on this competition going into the fall."
With a mix of players from around the Texas Region as well as a few top-seeded teams from the country, the Mavericks navigated through a tough draw. Horiguchi knocked out No. 2-seed Emma Wilson from Arizona in a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 match in the Round of 16, topping Olivia Peet of Texas Tech in the quarterfinals 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 before falling in the semifinals in a three-set close match. Boza rallied back after losing in her opening match to reach the consolation finals, however, her bracket was unable to be completed due to weather. Boza defeated Reagan Collins of Texas Tech, Dominika Hirabalova from UAB and Sophie Dodds from UAB during her back draw run.
On the men's side, Del Rio was joined by
Enrique Pardo as first-round winners. Del Rio escaped his opening-round match with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Texas A&M's Jack Pulliam before topping Rilthrik Bollipalli from Utah State in the Round of 16. However, his quarterfinal swung the other way with a 6-2, 6-3 setback against New Mexico's Dominic West.
2018 SBC Player of the Year
Guanarteme Nuez was inactive in the opening tournament, but gets his slate started with the ITA/Oracle Master's tournament this week in Malibu, Calif. The 32-person bracket is invitation only to the top players from around the US.
