Jan. 18, 2008

With one week into the spring semester, the men's and women's tennis programs are set for the start of their upcoming 2008 season. Both teams will be in action this weekend as the Lady Broncs and Broncs host College of the Southwest at the Orville Cox Tennis Center with start time at 11 a.m.

"I'm anxious and ready to go," said head men's and women's tennis coach Rob Hubbard. "I don't know that much about the team we are going to face other than that they are a start up team in the NAIA and both the men and women are anxious to get their feet wet."

The Broncs and Lady Broncs competed in several tournaments during the fall semester, where both teams had the chance to get some matches under their belt prior to the start of the season.

Senior captain Silke Buksik (Waiblingen, Germany/ Salier-Gymnasium Waiblingen) returns as one of the Lady Broncs top players that collected 26 total victories last season.

Three new faces will be on the courts on Saturday, as newcomers Marcus Dornauf (East Launceston, Tasmania, Australia /Scotch Oakburn College Prep), Andrew Irving (Hamilton, New Zeland/St. John's College) and Ashwin Vijayaragan (Andhrapradesh, India/ Kenedy Vidya Bhavan H.S.) will make their Bronc debut.

"Marcus and Ashwin are living up to the expectations I had that I've seen in practice. I knew they were two very talented young men and their practices have gone really well. They are going to start and that's what they were brought in for, to be impact players," said Hubbard.

The Broncs and Lady Broncs will look to start the season off with a win against College of the Southwest with the women slated to begin at 11 a.m. followed by the men at 3 p.m. at the Orville Cox Tennis Center on Saturday (Jan. 19).

"In less than two weeks we're going to have interesting competition with the home match this Saturday and the following weekend. Both the men and women are scheduled to play nationally ranked programs in Texas Tech, Clemson and Air Force. We're going to know a lot in the next ten days," concluded Hubbard.

UTPA Sports Information