The regular season has come and gone for UTA tennis.
The program now looks forward to hosting the Western Athletic Conference Tournament from April 17 to 19 at Arlington Tennis Center.
Led by head coach Diego Benitez, the men’s team is looking to become three-peat champions. Benitez, the second-longest tenured head coach at UTA, has established a winning culture within the program.
“It’s a great lesson for our other coaches who are newer. It’s a great lesson for me, who’s newer, that if you build it, it can work,” Athletics director Jon Fagg said. “We should not assume that success is fleeting. Success can be a culture. I, it does not have to be a luxury.”
Senior Daniel Pérez-Caraballo said despite the pressure to three-peat, the team believes “pressure is a privilege.”
“We got to make sure that when we are under pressure, we are still calm through the storm, and we use all our tools and experience that we have in the past to overcome difficult situations and be successful,” Pérez-Caraballo said.
The Mavericks finished second in the WAC behind Grand Canyon University. Despite not facing them this season, Benitez said he’s familiar with their team from defeating them a season ago.
Although the tournament won’t take place at UTA, the teams will have the luxury of sleeping in their own beds, maintaining their routines and playing in front of a pro-Maverick crowd.
“Regardless of where we play, Diego is in the business of kicking everybody’s butt,” Fagg said. “I think his expectation of his team is, ‘Wherever we are, we’re winning,’ and I love that about him.”
Pérez-Caraballo highlighted the competitive advantage presented by the tournament being hosted in Arlington but understands it won’t be the difference in winning or losing.
“We are still going to have the chance to practice the entire week at the Arlington Tennis Center unlike the other teams. They’re going to come one or two days before and practice there,” he said. “We are going to be there practicing, getting used to the small differences on the court.”
The men’s team was honored with a ring ceremony during a men’s basketball game halftime in February. Benitez hopes the younger players realize what they’re playing for and seize the unique opportunity.
As for the women’s team, senior Ioana Dumitrescu believes the team is trending upward at the right time despite highs and lows. They currently sit at 7-8 on the season with one game remaining Thursday against Tarleton State University.
The team has dealt with adversity from the start of the season, particularly having to navigate a full lineup with only six players on the roster. Benitez commended his team for playing under those conditions.
With the lack of depth, players can’t get as much rest as they’d like, he said.
Dumitrescu, who has spent her entire four-year career at UTA, calls program members her family and the UTA Tennis Center her home. Knowing this is her final rodeo, she is determined to win the tournament.
“I’m very nervous. Only the fact that we talk about it gets my stomach going because it’s also my last conference, and I really, really, really want to win,” she said.
At this point in the year, Dumitrescu realizes the team has to trust the work they have put in throughout the season. Now, it’s about practicing with consciousness to perfect the details before the tournament.
From the end of the regular season to the start of the tournament, the priority for both teams is maintaining good health, conditioning and cleaning up technique. Benitez said he will pace them until then, breaking workouts into blocks of training.
“We’ve been working pretty hard lately on the conditioning part and footwork, and we’re gonna do that for another few days,” he said. “By the time we hit this weekend, we’ll be able to start slowing down and just do a little bit more of maintenance.”
With the Arlington Tennis Center being about a 10-minute drive from campus, the teams ask the Maverick community to show up and support.
“Tennis is just such a fun sport. I call it the United Nations,” Fagg said. “It’s really neat. It’s a coming together of people from vastly different places, often, that all function well together and that’s really cool.”
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