Women’s tennis ready for five autumn tournaments

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Division of Intercollegiate Athletics on Wednesday announced the 2024 fall schedule for the Vaqueros women’s tennis team, which includes five tournaments and a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

The Vaqueros open the fall season September 27-28 at the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelina Jam.

UTRGV’s top players will compete in two championship qualifying tournaments in October. Select student-athletes will compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Texas Regional in Fort Worth from October 10-14.

This year marks the beginning of a two-year pilot program approved by the NCAA Div. I Competition Oversight Committee to hold the women’s and men’s tennis singles championships in the fall season and move the tournaments from the spring, when the team championships are held. The program is designed to “create a clearly defined and accessible path for student-athletes to qualify for the NCAA singles championships in fall 2024 and fall 2025.”

In response to this pilot program, automatically qualified Div. I conferences may hold a conference tournament in the fall to determine one singles player and one doubles team of each gender to advance to the 2024 ITA Conference Masters Championship. Four singles players and three doubles teams will qualify from the Masters Tournament to the NCAA singles and doubles championships, respectively. Select Vaqueros will compete in the Southland Conference (SLC) Fall Championship, October 25-27, in Hammond, Louisiana.

Additional tennis student-athletes will compete at the Bearkat Invite hosted by Sam Houston State on October 25-27. UTRGV will finish the fall season at the Rice Invitational in Houston on November 7-10.

“We are really happy with this fall program,” said the head coach of women’s tennis West Nott said. “The Javelina Jam is a great event where we can build confidence and get a little practice. We have five new players and this is a great way to see how they do against level-based competition. The ITA Regionals brings together the best players in Texas and gives us the opportunity to compete against elite programs. The SLC singles qualifier is a tremendous opportunity for players to have a clear path to qualifying for the NCAA’s top 64 singles and doubles teams and a real motivating factor for the players to earn that right. The Bearkat Invite is the perfect fall event where we will compete against teams like Sam Houston State, UTSA and Lamar and see how we do. The final tournament at Rice will be the ultimate challenge playing against quality competition from strong mid-major and Power 4 programs.

“We want to see if we can peak at the end of the fall and finish the season on a high note,” Nott added. “The experience we gain through this fall schedule will help us learn what we need to work on to compete against elite competition and have a good spring season.”

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