Women’s Tennis

After a lackluster start to the spring season the Rams tennis

team has made an impressive turnaround winning three of their last

four dual matches, improving its overall record to 3-3.

With an easy 7-0 victory to start the weekend over Montana State

in Boise, Idaho, the Rams faced their stiffest competition of the

season in Boise State.

“They had a very good team top to bottom. We knew it would be a

challenge to come into their place and beat them,” said head coach

Jon Messick.

After falling to the Broncos 5-2, the Rams put the loss aside

and finished out the weekend with an impressive win over UC-Santa

Barbara.

Freshman Emily Kirchem went 3-0 at the No. 2 slot for the Rams

and was matched by teammate Tatyana Ugorich’s effort. Ugorich also

swept the competition at the No. 6 position.

“Those girls had outstanding performances last weekend,” Messick

said. “They were focused and really got our team’s confidence level

up.”

The Rams have been inconsistent on the road this season and have

had trouble winning close matches. However, with that in the back

of their minds, the Rams erased all doubts as to what they were

capable of after a blowout victory over Montana State.

“Montana State was definitely the weakest of the three, but it

was great for our girls to get some momentum and start off the

weekend with a big win,” Messick said. “Boise State was a tough

match, but I think losing the way (we) did got (us) fired up to get

a win against UC-Santa Barbara.”

Against the Gauchos of Santa Barbara, the Rams nearly swept the

singles lineup, dominating with a 5-of-6 winning match play. The

doubles squad continued to be a weak spot for the team, but it saw

some improvement from last weekend’s performance in Colorado

Springs.

“Against UC-Santa Barbara we decided to play with the doubles

pairings a bit and it ended up working out for us,” Messick

said.

The team is riding high after its performance in Boise and looks

to carry the momentum into El Paso, Texas, this weekend where the

team will face Western Athletic Conference foe UTEP and Sun Belt

schools, New Mexico State and North Texas.

“Our team’s spirit is pretty high right now. We have a lot of

confidence heading into this weekend,” Messick said. “We know these

teams are good, we just need to play hard and put in the effort. I

expect all three (teams) to very tough, but I think this team is

capable of going 3-0 this weekend.”