Women's Tennis | 4/11/2024 4:00:00 PM

(St. George, Utah – April 11, 2024) - The Trailblazers wrap up the regular season on Saturday traveling to Seattle U for a contest against the Redhawks.

Who | Utah Tech (6-14, 0-6 WAC) at Seattle U (8-8, 3-3 WAC)
When | Saturday, April 13 / 10 a.m.
Where | SU Tennis Courts/Amy Yee Tennis Center – Seattle, Wash.
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X)

A GLANCE AT THE SEATTLE U REDHAWKS
Seattle U is 8-8 overall on the season with a 3-3 mark in the WAC to sit fifth in the conference.

The Redhawks have earned WAC wins over Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian and UTRGV while falling to Grand Canyon, Tarleton State and UT Arlington.

Seattle U posted a 4-11 mark in 2023 with a 2-5 record in 2023 and narrowly defeated the Trailblazers, 4-3 in St. George last season on March 26.

The Trailblazers also dropped a match against SU in 2022 (5-2) while the Trailblazers defeated SU in 2021, 5-2.

In singles play, freshman Lamija Avdic has 12 wins in dual action followed by junior Elena Kraleva with 11.

Moving over to doubles, Avdic and sophomore Lola Tavcar are 9-3 in dual action.

LAST TIME OUT
The Trailblazers fell 5-2 to UTRGV last Sunday on Senior Day at home.

Prior to the match, Utah Tech honored its three seniors, Rachel Mellor, Ya-Chi Hsu and Alysha Damron, for their contributions to the program.

Winning the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead, the Trailblazers got wins at both number one and three doubles. The duo of Mariana Zurita and Mellor claimed the top spot, 6-2 while Olivia Bustos and Adithi Venkatakrishnan tallied a 6-1 victory.

The Vaqueros claimed five of the six singles points to clinch the match with Bustos winning 6-0, 6-1 over Guiliana Castelain at number six singles.

WAC STANDINGS
With the WAC Championships set to get underway in a week on April 18 hosted by UTRGV, the Trailblazers will enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed.

The lone remaining unbeaten team in the conference, Grand Canyon, ranked No. 62 nationally in the latest ITA national poll, is 6-0 and has wrapped up the No. 1 seed and at least a share of the regular season title after knocking off Tarleton State, 7-0 on April 7.

The remaining seeds will be determined with this weekend's final regular season matches as Abilene Christian (4-2 WAC) heads to Tarleton State (5-1) on Saturday and Sunday will see UTRGV (1-5) at SFA (1-5) and UTA (4-2) at Grand Canyon (6-0).

SINGLES & DOUBLES WIN LEADERS
On the singles side, Mellor leads the team with nine wins, including a 5-0 mark at number three singles.

Venkatakrishnan and Zurita each have six singles wins apiece while Raquel Roshak has added five victories.

Flipping over to doubles, Ya-Chi Hsu and Ana Gutierrez Sampere each have a team-leading nine wins with seven coming together at number two 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 104 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 head to the WAC Championships in Harlingen, Texas next week facing No. 1 seed Grand Canyon on April 18.