ARLINGTON - For the first time since the end of the 2020 season, the UT Arlington women's tennis team has earned a spot in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Top-75 National Team Rankings, landing at No. 68 in the latest rankings announced by the organization on Wednesday.

"I'm very proud of all the hard work our girls are putting in day in and day out," said Head Coach Diego Benitez. "They deserve to be nationally recognized by the ITA Rankings and we are looking forward to continuing the process."

The Mavericks - who sit atop the Sun Belt Conference standings on the season - are also the lone SBC program in the Top-75. Sitting at 16-1 on the season and 5-0 in the Sun Belt, UTA earned it's highest ranking in the ITA Poll since 2016 when it received a ranking of 49.  The Mavericks are currently four-wins shy of the program's first 20-win regular season. 

Winners of seven straight overall matches and 14 straight Sun Belt Conference matches, dating back to 2019, a large part of that is their success in winning the doubles point. In dual action this year, the Mavs are winning 73 percent of their doubles matches.  Momoka Horiguchi and Tara Gorinsek are 8-2 on the season at No. 1 doubles, while Liz Chileno and Ana Paula Jimenez are 8-1 at line two.

The team is even better in singles dual play, winning 82 percent of their matches. Against Sun Belt competition, that improves to 88 percent - losing just two singles dual matches all year.  Tara Gorinsek is 14-0 on the year, while Sarina Reinertsen is 13-0.  Ana Paula Jimenez has gone 13-1 in dual matches.  Liz Chileno is fourth on the team with 10 wins and only two losses.

The newly-ranked Mavericks will be back in action on Saturday to host Georgia Southern at 10 am at the UTA Tennis Center.

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