With The UT Permian Basin women's tennis season right around the corner, the Lone Star Conference released the preseason players to watch, which featured junior Brooke Runyan and freshman Paige Bott. 

In the fall, Runyan capture the individual championship at the St. Mary's Invitational beating Dallas Baptist to win the Flight 1 Singles Championship.  She finished the weekend 2-1. Runyan also had a solid outing at the ITA South Central Regional Championships, picking up a win in the consolation round of 32. While Runyan had some success in the fall, her and the team are looking to raise their level of play and have changed their expectations for the spring season.  

"I feel like just changing the expectations, whether that's in practice or in matches and just going out there working hard and expecting to win, said Runyan. "It hasn't always been like that in the past, I feel like we have had a lot of doubt. So, every time we go on the court, we need to set the highest standard that is possible."

In her collegiate debut in the fall, Bott started off strong earning a dominating 6-1, 6-2 win over Elena Munoz from St. Mary's. She continued that success on the next day of the St. Mary's Invitational picking up a victory over Dallas Baptist. At the ITA South Central Regional Championships, Bott and Mattea Bowe defeated Sofia Giraldo and Micaela McSpadden of Midwestern State. Similar to Runyan, Bott also has high expectations for the team as they prepare for the spring season.

"We want to be as successful as possible and you know the goal is to hopefully win conference and go to nationals," said Bott. "But I really think we are focusing on pushing ourselves to our limits, we want to put our best self forward on the court every time."

The Falcons return to the tennis court on Saturday (Feb. 3) facing Hardin-Simmons at 10 a.m. and McMurry at 4 p.m. They will wrap up their road trip with an exhibition match on Sunday against Abilene Christian at 10 a.m.