Women's Tennis | 3/21/2024 11:00:00 AM

(St. George, Utah – March 21, 2024) - The Trailblazers return home this weekend to open WAC action hosting No. 63 Grand Canyon on Friday and Stephen F. Austin on Sunday.

Who | Utah Tech (5-8, 0-0 WAC) vs. No. 63 Grand Canyon (12-2, 0-0 WAC)
When | Friday, March 22 / 3 p.m.
Where | Trailblazer Tennis Courts – St. George, Utah
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

Who | Utah Tech (5-7, 0-0 WAC) vs. Stephen F. Austin (8-4, 0-0 WAC)
When | Sunday, March 24 / 10 a.m.
Where | Trailblazer Tennis Courts – St. George, Utah
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

A GLANCE AT THE GRAND CANYON LOPES
Grand Canyon comes into Friday's match ranked No. 63 in the ITA Top 75 while sporting a 12-2 overall record.

The Lopes, who have only fallen to No. 30 Baylor and No. 41 Arizona, are on a three-match winning streak with wins over Air Force, Colorado State and Northern Arizona and also have wins over SEC opponents Missouri and Arkansas this spring.

GCU posted a 15-10 record in 2023 with a 6-3 WAC record to finish third in the conference before going on to win the WAC Tournament downing Tarleton, 4-3 in the finals. The Lopes faced off against Pepperdine in the NCAA Tournament falling 4-0.

Led by senior Natasha Puehse, ranked No. 114 in the nation at singles, is a perfect 11-0 on the season at number one singles. Fellow senior Santa Strombacha, a transfer from Arizona, is also perfect on the season sitting 11-0 at number two singles.

The two have combined at number one doubles to go 11-2 so far this season. Head coach Katarina Adamovic is in her second season at the helm of GCU.

GCU has won all three matches against Utah Tech with Roshak winning at number six singles last season in a 6-1 loss in Phoenix.

A GLANCE AT THE STEPHEN F. AUSTIN LADYJACKS
Stephen F. Austin is off to an 8-4 start to the season splitting its last weekend of action two weeks ago at home defeating Incarnate Word, 4-3 before falling to Northwestern State, 4-0.

The Ladyjacks registered a 10-12 overall record in 2023 with a 2-6 mark in the WAC.

Sophomore Jemma Cave is 7-3 at number three singles while Felicia Back is 6-4 at number two singles. On the doubles side, the duo of Carolina Chiatti and Ksenia Mamontova is 7-1 at number two doubles while Back and Cave have combined to go 5-4 at number one doubles.

Head coach Erin Scott is in her sixth season at SFA. The Ladyjacks topped the Trailblazers, 5-2 in Nacogdoches last season with UT winning the doubles point along with Adithi Venkatakrishnan winning 6-4, 6-2 at number three singles.

LAST TIME OUT
The Trailblazers felll 7-0 at UNLV on Wednesday dropping the doubles point falling in all three matches with the duo of Mariana Zurita and Rachel Mellor falling to the top doubles team of UNLV, 6-3.

Moving on to singles, Venkatakrishnan scored three points in the opening set at number one singles before falling 6-0 in the second set.

Sophomore Raquel Roshak scored three points in each set at number six singles against Aura Fang.

BLAZERS BLANK COLORADO MESA
The Trailblazers earned their fifth win of the season in their last contest on March 9 with a 7-0 sweep over Colorado Mesa.

Utah Tech got the action started sweeping all three positions at doubles to take a quick 1-0 lead. The Blazers continued their strong play at singles getting started with a 6-4, 6-2 win at number one singles by Venkatakrishnan.

The next five Blazers followed suit picking up wins from Ana Gutierrez Sampere, Zurita, Mellor, Ya-Chi Hsu & Roshak to complete the sweep of the Mavericks.

TRAILBLAZERS WIN FOUR IN ARIZONA
The Blazers went a perfect 4-0 on their trip to Arizona on Feb. 17-19 with a 6-1 win over Arizona Christian, a pair of 7-0 wins against Mesa Community College and a 5-0 win against Ottawa University.

Gutierrez Sampere went 3-0 at number one singles before going unfinished against Ottawa.

Mellor and Laura Coulome each went a perfect 4-0 at number three and five singles, respectively while all 12 double teams earned wins.

SINGLES & DOUBLES WIN LEADERS
On the singles side, Mellor is 6-6 overall, including a 4-0 mark at number three.

Fellow senior Hsu is 5-7 overall in singles with a 4-5 record at number four singles.

Flipping over to doubles, Mellor and Zurita are 5-8 as a pairing overall with a 4-8 mark at number one doubles.

2024 ROSTER
The 2023-24 roster consists of 11 student-athletes with four freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and three seniors.

The Trailblazers return six student-athletes from last year while welcoming four freshmen and one junior college transfer in Laura Coulome.

Seven Trailblazers are from outside of the United States while four Blazers hail from the United States.

HEAD COACH ERIC PELTON
Eric Pelton is in his 18th season as the head coach of the Utah Tech women's tennis program in 2024.

Utah Tech has racked up 103 wins over his 18 seasons leading the Trailblazers and helped lead then-Dixie State to a career-high 13 wins in 2018-19 and added six more in the COVID-19 shortened season of 2019-20.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers travel to Tarleton and Abilene Christian to continue WAC action next weekend.