The New Mexico women’s tennis team looks to notch its first road victory this season when it travels to Texas this weekend to face Houston and Rice.
The Lobos (5-4) suffered back-to-back road losses to top-25 competition last weekend in Kansas. The team fell to Wichita State 1-6 followed by a 0-7 loss to Kansas.
Head coach Kelcy McKenna said the experience could be something that benefits the team moving forward. McKenna said that it’s always a challenge playing a tough opponent on the road, but the team can be successful by focusing on the things it can control.
“We are hopeful that we can learn from this experience,” she said. “It’ll be important to understand that it’s not always going to be perfect, but that we can respond well.”
One point of emphasis will be getting out to a stronger start in doubles competition. McKenna said getting that point is huge, and puts the team in a better position to earn a victory.
“We’ve been really fortunate at home that we’ve done well at competing (in doubles), but we did not do that on the road,” McKenna said. “That’s something that has to be fixed before we go to Houston and Rice.”
Houston started the season with eight consecutive losses, but seems to be playing much better as of late. The Cougars come to Albuquerque on a three-match winning streak at home.
Houston bested Connecticut last weekend 5-2 and earned a pair of wins the previous weekend over Prairie View A&M and Southern, by a margin of 4-0 in both matches.
Rice enters the weekend with a 6-2 record on the year. The Owls are on a two-game winning streak and will play Saturday against Brown before squaring off against New Mexico on Sunday.
Rice split a pair of road matches the previous week before they responded by topping Texas State 6-1 last weekend at home.
McKenna said both teams are traditionally very good, a result of being well-coached. She said one of the keys to the game will be playing aggressively from the start. The head coach said players need to focus on getting out to quick starts and continue to apply pressure in the second sets, especially if they have a chance to close the match out.
She said the team can succeed by hitting service spots so it can dictate the pace and style of the match versus playing defensively and letting the opponent do so.
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The Lobos will stay on the road again next weekend to play two more matches in Texas before returning home. The team will play North Texas and UT Arlington on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Robert Maler is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country, tennis and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
