SAN ANTONIO – Ki Kroll has been steadily building an impressive women’s tennis program since taking over at UTSA prior to the 2018-19 season.
Coming off a 17-7 record last season – marking the program’s most victories since the 2003 campaign – Kroll knew that the 2024-25 edition of his team had the potential to be special.
“I’ve always believed that we have a very good team this year,” Kroll said. “Right now, we’re just trying to win as much as we can and just go out and perform at our best level. We stay away from the idea of trying to win every match. We just work as a team; everyone gives their best effort and you can see what has resulted positively.”
That formula has worked well for the Roadrunners this season. UTSA recorded the best start in program history at 13-0 and earned its best ITA team ranking of No. 44 on February 20, after achieving the previous best of No. 61 last year.
“When you have success like that, it basically just makes you believe and gives you more confidence,” Kroll said. “Starting off 13-0 built a lot of confidence as the team kept working towards that in itself. I think the harder we go out and work every time, success just follows.”
This year’s squad features a balance of newcomers and talented returnees. Instead of focusing on any single player to lead the Roadrunners, Kroll has charged his entire team with that responsibility.
“We’ve kind of tried to blend the leadership and get everybody to lead,” he said. “They all have different personalities and leadership qualities. We encourage everyone to step up and do those things. They’ve been great.”
That focus has created the culture that Kroll hoped his team would embody when it started the season.
“We keep pushing the culture in a positive way,” Kroll said. “That’s really important. We want all of our girls to just be hard workers, be positive and be great teammates. They’ve worked hard together.”
UTSA (13-1) enters Saturday’s match against North Texas (10 a.m. at UTSA Tennis Center) – its first home contest this season against an American Athletic Conference foe this season - with its sights set on the ultimate goal.
“We would like to win our conference,” Kroll said. “Everybody is tuned into that. There is a lot of good teams in our conference. Everybody is working hard to get to that goal and we’re 13-1 right now.”
The first 50 fans at Saturday’s match will receive free Let’s Go 2-1-0 rally towels and free donuts. UTSA Athletics supporter April Ancira will provide the ceremonial first serve for the match.