With the departure of five seniors from the women's tennis team, junior Ruth Copas will become the most tenured member of the New Mexico women's tennis program.
The Dublin, Ireland native will soon add even more experience to her résumé as she prepares for the upcoming 2017 Fed Cup after being selected to represent her country in the event.
Ireland is slated to compete in Group III and will play a round-robin format with the group's field containing four pools of four teams, according to fedcup.com. The winners of each pool will square off against each other to determine which two nations are promoted to Europe/Africa Zone Group II in 2018.
The matches will take place from June 12-17 at the National Tennis School & Tennis Bluc Acvila in Chișinău, Moldova.
New Mexico head coach Stephanie Wooten-Quijada said Copas shed tears of joy and was "absolutely thrilled" after she learned that she was named to the national team.
Wooten-Quijada said she was happy for Copas and the opportunity for the Lobo standout to compete for her country on one of tennis' biggest stages.
"I think it's really good because she's going to be playing against girls that play on the pro tour," Wooten-Quijada said. "She gets to train and play with the best, so I'm really excited for her."
Copas should be proud and excited to make the cut, as only a few players get selected to represent their country. She will join Sophia Derivan, Georgia Drummy and Jennifer Timotin on team Ireland, which will be captained by Yvonne Doyle.
Although the competition will take place on clay courts, Wooten-Quijada said Copas grew up on clay and expects her to perform well on the playing surface.
The head coach said clay typically slows down the points, which is something that could favor Copas' game. She said Copas is used to playing longer points and should do well as long as she keeps the ball away from the the middle of the court.
She said it will be important for Copas to maintain her confidence and mix up the pace of the ball throughout her matches. Wooten-Quijada said it is something they have worked on all year and Copas has already made a lot of improvement.
The 2017 Fed Cup will be an excellent opportunity for her to put things into action and continue to hone her skills while competing against players at one of the highest levels.
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Her experience should yield benefits for the New Mexico women's tennis team as well, as she is expected to be one of the team leaders next season. Copas is one of just three returning players, and is the only upperclassman on the roster.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and men’s and women’s tennis. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.