Makesar Earns First SLC Women’s Tennis Player of the Week Award

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women’s tennis team learned on Tuesday that sophomore Rhea Makesar has been named the Southland Conference (SLC) Women’s Tennis Player of the Week.

Makesar earned UTRGV’s first SLC weekly award after going 2-0 on Thursday when the Vaqueros battled rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union.

Makesar was electric playing with freshman Mariia Bakhtina in the No. 1 doubles match, leading the pair to a dominant 6-1 win over AMCC’s top duo of Kseniya Ramanouskaya/Yana Mykytyn. The sophomore patrolled the net with fast hands and consistently delivered exciting plays.

In singles, Makesar captured a hard-earned comeback victory in the No. 3 flight. After dropping the first set to Mykytyn, Makesar leaned on her power to take early control of the next two sets. She used a strong serve to score at ease and was solid on the baseline and held off a late comeback attempt to earn a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win.

Makesar is 4-0 with Bakhtina in the first doubles flight and holds a 3-1 singles record this spring. The Vaqueros are scheduled to play at Texas State on Saturday at 2 p.m.