A week before playing mainly conference opponents, the U women’s tennis team will have to go up against the Rice Owls and Texas Christian.
Last weekend the Utes played well, but could not overcome SMU, and lost by a 4-3 margin. The loss had came just after a 5-2 victory over Idaho State.
In the Rice Owls, Utah faces a subpar team with a 6-9 record. The team has been very streaky, and the wins have come mainly against abysmal opponents.
The players that will challenge the Utes are Yasmin Fisher and Jeri Gonzalez, who are good singles players as well as a doubles team.
The other players should be beaten quite easily by the Utes, and this is a match the Utes can win.
TCU is ranked No. 31 in the nation and are playing extremely well with a record of 10-4. Even with the record, the Frogs are coming off a loss to Southern Alabama 4-3.
TCU features many good players, as they have Paty Aburto and Katrin Gaber, who will be very tough to beat in singles competition.
The doubles teams for the Horned Frogs are even better as Aburto and Rosa Perez are a good tandem that has played very well throughout the season.
The Utes will need to bank on Sheri Esrock to get a win, and hope that some of the players can upset the TCU three, four and five singles players.
On paper, the Utes should be able to defeat Rice, but will have a tough time with TCU. The two games should be able to get the Utes ready for the steady flow of conference teams they will face throughout the remainder of the season.