HOUSTON, Texas – The Maverick men's and women's tennis teams will travel to Houston on Thursday to take on the Rice Owls at 1 pm at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
 
The women's team is coming off a loss to SMU on Tuesday, falling 4-0 at the UTA Tennis Center.  The Mavs are still off to a great season, sitting at 11-2 overall and undefeated in the Sun Belt Conference.
 
As a team, UTA is winning 76 percent of their singles matches since the fall and that increases to 82 percent in dual competition.  They Mavs are also winning 70 percent of their doubles matches.
 
Carla Pons is 11-1 in dual matches, winning eight of her matches at either No. 4 or No. 5.  Lucia Natal sits at a perfect 9-0 on the season with five of her wins coming from the No. 4 position.
 
In doubles play, Carla Pons and Almudena Boza are 7-1 as a team, holding down court three for the Mavericks.  Momoka Horiguchi and Bruna Casasampere are 5-1 on court two, and Horiguchi is 9-2 overall.
 
After starting the season with a tough schedule, the men's team has rattled off five straight sweeps and is now 6-5 on the season. They are coming off a 4-0 win over Rice at the UTA Tennis Center on Saturday.
 
Alan Sau Franco reached double-digit wins in singles play last Saturday and now has 10 wins dating back to tournament play.  Angel Diaz and Solano Caffarena will look to join Franco in double-digits and they both sit with nine wins on the year.
 
In doubles competition, the Mavericks are winning two-thirds of their matches.  Miguel Cabrera and Angel Diaz have a combined 6-1 record on courts two and three and have won their last five matches.