ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington women's tennis team and 17^th year head coach Diego Benitez will begin their 2022 season this Friday with two matches at the UTA Tennis Center on the campus of UTA. The Mavericks will play Dallas Baptist at 10 am before following up with an afternoon match against Prairie View A&M at 2 pm. The Mavericks will then play on Sunday, taking on New Mexico State (10 am) and Weatherford (2 pm) at the UTA Tennis Center.
 
The Mavericks are led by two returning All-Sun Belt Conference selections from a season ago. Momoka Horiguchi will return to her No. 1 singles position following a First Team All-SBC selection from a season ago where she won 10 matches, including going 9-4 in dual action.
 
Fellow senior Carla Pons, the 2021 SBC Player to Watch and Second Team All-SBC, will look to improve upon her junior season where she led the team with 21 wins, including a 16-2 record in dual play and undefeated conference record.
 
The Mavericks, coming off a 2021 SBC Regular Season Championship, will return four player – Bruna Casasampere, Liz Chileno, Horiguchi and Pons.
 
There are six new faces for UTA this season – Ioana Dumitrescu (Bucharest, Romania), Tara Gorinsek (Slovenske Konjice, Slovenia), Nika Novikova (Klaipeda, Lithuania), Sarina Reinertsen (Oslo, Norway) and transfer Francisca Vergara (Valdivia, Chile; Florida International).
 
SCOUTING DBU
The Patriots are currently 4-0 this year, willing all their dual matches from the fall at the Pueblo Duals. This will be their first match of the spring slate. A season ago they went 14-6. This will be the fourth match with DBU for the Mavericks, with UTA holding a 3-0 record against the Patriots.
 
SCOUTING PRAIRIE VIEW A&M
Entering the weekend, Prairie View A&M is 0-5 on the season after opening their season a week ago. A year ago, the Panthers went 9-19 on the year. This will be the third match between these two programs with the Mavericks winning each previous match.
 
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO STATE
The Aggies are currently 0-2 on the year, dropping matches to Colorado State and Arizona State last weekend. Last season NMSU went 6-14. This will be the fifth meeting between the Aggies and Mavericks with UTA owning a 4-0 record in the previous matches.
SCOUTING WEATHERFORD
The Coyotes have yet to play a match this spring but are led by former Sun Belt Conference coach Alexandra Leatu (Georgia State, 2018-21). This will be the first meeting between Weatherford and UTA.
 
ON DECK
The Mavs stay in Arlington next weekend for another doubleheader against Southeastern Oklahoma State (10 am) and Cameron (2 pm) on Friday, Feb. 4.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's tennis program on Twitter (@UTAMavsMTEN) Instagram (@UTAMavsMTEN ) and Facebook ( /UTAMavsMTEN ).