(St. George - Jan. 21, 2026) – Utah Tech women's tennis heads up I-15 for a matchup with future conference-mate Weber State on Friday, Jan. 23, in Ogden, Utah. The in-state contest is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. at the Ogden Athletic Club.

Who | Utah Tech (0-3, 0-0 WAC) vs. Weber State (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky)
When | Friday, Jan. 23 - 11:30 a.m.
Where | Ogden Athletic Club - Ogden, Utah
Social Media | Instagram + X (Twitter)

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Sophomores Maya Inouye and Nutsa Tsintsadze were named the WAC Doubles Players of the Week, the conference announced on Tuesday. They teamed up for a win at second doubles over BYU, besting Bella Lewis and Sage Bergeson, 6-4, on Jan. 17 in the first contest of a doubleheader. With a Cougars forfeit at third doubles, Utah Tech secured its first-ever doubles point in the all-time series with Brigham Young. 

The award is Inouye's and Tsintsadze's first career WAC weekly honor. It's Utah Tech's first WAC weekly honor of the season and the Trailblazers' first WAC weekly honor since February 2021, when Rachel Mellor, Emma Templeman and Kyra Harames swept the awards.

It was Inouye's and Tsintsadze's first doubles victory of the season and their first dual season win when partnered together. It was Inouye's sixth career doubles win and Tsintsadze's fifth career doubles victory.

Moved up to first doubles in the second game of the doubleheader, Inouye and Tsintsadze fell, 6-3, to Sue Yan Tan and Yu-Yun Chen.

A GLANCE AT WEBER STATE
The Wildcats open their dual season against Utah Tech on Friday. They finished 0-19 last year with a 0-8 mark in Big Sky play. With a loss ending its 2024 dual campaign, Weber State is on a 20-game losing streak. The Wildcats failed to make the Big Sky Tennis Championship last season.

Weber State leads the all-time series against Utah Tech, 10-1, but the Trailblazers took last year's matchup, 4-3, in St. George. In Ogden, the Wildcats lead the series 5-0, with the most recent result a 6-1 affair in 2024.

Weber State returns four Wildcats from its 2024-25 roster, combining for a singles record of 9-60 and a doubles mark of 19-47. Senior Jessica Hill led the Wildcats with six singles wins, while sophomore Alicia Celorio racked up seven doubles victories. Weber State added three freshmen this season, including two international student-athletes and one Utahn.

Weber State's next match will be at Utah on Saturday, Jan. 24.

LAST TIME OUT
Utah Tech women's tennis came up short in a 4-3 thriller against Utah State on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Trailblazer Tennis Courts. The Trailblazers earned all three of their points in singles play. Freshman Ilse Fernanda Elechiguerra Ortega clinched her first career singles victory on court six, dispatching USU's Kylee Sperry with a come-from-behind win, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Freshman Cameron Hendrix also logged her first-career singles victory, outlasting Aggie Magdalena Nunez Pureco, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, at No. 5 singles. Junior Ana Gutierrez Sampere notched her first singles win of the season in a marathon match at No. 3 singles, besting USU's Natalie Paterova, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

UT IN ROAD OPENERS
Utah Tech is 5-14 all-time in away openers with a 0-5 mark in its Division I era. UT's last victory in its first road game of the season came at Colorado State-Pueblo, 6-1, in 2019.

MEET THE TRAILBLAZERS
Utah Tech returns seven letter winners from last year's squad, including sophomore Maya Inouye, a 2024-25 Second Team All-WAC selection. She led the Trailblazers with 10 singles wins, logging a 10-6 record during the dual season and setting the UT Division I-era record for single-season wins. Inouye is the Trailblazers' first-ever All-WAC singles honoree and the first Trailblazer to reach 10 wins since Yolena Carlon went 10-7 in 2018. 

The Trailblazers' two newcomers are freshmen Cameron Hendrix and Ilse Fernanda Elechiguerra Ortega. Seeing action in two tournaments last fall, Hendrix won the Bengal draw with doubles partner senior Nicole Kells at the Idaho State Invitational, and went 2-1 in singles play at the UNLV Watanabe Classic. Out of La Ceiba, Mexico, Elechiguerra Ortega joined the team in time for this spring semester.

Head coach Eric Pelton is in his 20th season at the helm of Utah Tech women's tennis. He has totaled 111 wins at UT and winning seasons in 2014 (12-9), 2017 (9-8), 2019 (13-4) and 2020 (6-3). Pelton has mentored 10 all-conference selections, including Inouye.

2025 IN REVIEW
UT posted its best Division I-era record in 2025, going 7-13 with wins over Colorado Mesa, the College of Idaho, Mesa CC, Montana, UT Dallas and Weber State. Five of those victories were 7-0 sweeps. Utah Tech's season ended in the first round of the WAC Tennis Championships with a 4-0 loss to UT Arlington.

BIG SKY ON THE HORIZON
Utah Tech is in its last year of competition as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. The Trailblazers will join the Big Sky Conference on July 1, 2026. UT will keep the conference at nine women's tennis programs, joining Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Portland State and Weber State. Sacramento State departs for the Big West after this season.

UP NEXT
Utah Tech will head to Las Vegas, Nevada, for three games over three days at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on Friday-Sunday, Jan. 30-Feb. 1. The Trailblazers open with a neutral-site match against Youngstown State, followed by an away game versus UNLV and wrap up with a neutral-site rematch with Weber State.