Lopez Signs with Utah Women’s Tennis
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah women's tennis head coach Ric Mortera has announced the signing of Marcela Lopez. Lopez will join the Utes for the 2022-23 season.
"Today is a great day for our program. I could not be more excited to announce the signing of Marcela Lopez," remarked head coach Ric Mortera. "She is a great tennis player, an incredible person, and will be a great addition to our family. She exudes many of the qualities that we are looking for as we continue to establish our standard here."
The Frisco, Texas native, joins the Utes after a successful junior career. She is a five-star rated recruit who has ranked as high as #34 nationally and #3 in the state of Texas. This is the highest-ranked American recruit for Utah women's tennis since 2015.
Throughout her career, Lopez has achieved success on both the international and national stage.
In 2021 at the ITF J4 Cancun, Lopez earned a runner-up finish in singles and helped make it to the semifinals in doubles. Lopez also participated in both the ITF J4 Atlanta and ITF J4 Jalisco. She advanced to the semifinals in singles at the ITF J4 Jalisco while also advancing to the quarterfinals in doubles. The success continued later in the year when she finished runner-up in doubles at the ITF J4 Atlanta. From these results, Lopez also earned a ranking internationally and was ranked as high as #545 in the International Tennis Federation junior rankings.
In the United States, Lopez most recently won the L2 National Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She followed that result with a final 32 showing at the prestigious National Clay Court Championships. In doubles, Lopez and her partner made the quarterfinals of Clay Court Nationals, and Lopez has also earned a silver ball in doubles at the National Indoors Championships, where Lopez and her partner made the championship match.
She currently trains with coach Dave Licker at Lakes Tennis Academy. She is the daughter of Marcelo Lopez and Helga Alanis. She has one sister, Helga, who plays tennis at Holy Cross College in South Bend, Indiana.