This article was published in The Wichitan.

The men and women’s tennis teams play at home for the first time this year Friday and Saturday. Going into the matches against Metro State and the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, the women have momentum with a 3-0 record. Last weekend, the teams played in Austin and San Antonio against The University of Incarnate Word and Trinity University.

Kayla Casey, sophomore in education, said, “We have a really good chance to win. Our teams are prepared. We’re working hard and practicing hard.”

Having played three matches in a row on Valentine’s Day weekend, the women’s team came out on top 3-0 so far on the season. The first win came against St. Edward’s University in Austin. The doubles teams lead the way helping MSU to take the lead. While in San Antonio the team took on Incarnate Word and Trinity University.

“It was tough playing three matches in a row but we were prepared. Mentally we are all really strong and even if we are down we never give up,” Lauren Pineda, sophomore in nursing, said.

The men’s team started the season a bit slower than the women’s team, earning a 1-2 record last weekend. In the game against St. Edward’s, the doubles and singles teams played strong games. Only one doubles team lost a match, and singles dropped one set. Kacper Boborykin, senior in management, plays in the number one spot for singles.

Boborykin said, “We played good last weekend. We competed and won.”

After moving over to San Antonio, the men’s team lost in close matches to Incarnate Word, 3-4, and Trinity University, 4-5. MSU battled through their matches but came up short in the end. Against Incarnate word the double’s teams took the first point but lost in 4 singles matches.

In the matches against Trinity MSU won the second doubles match and three singles matches.

This weekend the men and women are determined to win.

Last year the men’s team defeated Arkansas 9-0 and women’s team defeated Arkansas 8-1. The teams did not play Metro State in the previous season.