SAN ANTONIO — The No. 48 St. Mary's women's tennis team picked up a notable victory Saturday, knocking off cross-town rival Incarnate Word, ranked No. 33 in the nation, with a score of 6-3.
The Lady Rattlers took a 2-1 lead after the completion of the doubles, winning at the top two positions.
At No. 1, the team of
Mariana Rong and
Ariana Saldana cruised to a 8-2 victory over Incarnate Word's top team of Ivana Katavic and Andi Botha. The No. 2 position was also in the Rattlers' favor as
Felicity Delgado and Christina Lopez won 8-5 over Nicole Karaklis and Malisa Vatanadilok of UIW. The No. 3 team of
Valentine Lambrechts and
Joanie Bryant fought hard, but could not hold on in a closely contested 7-9 loss to UIW's Taryn Strahl and Jennifer Betancourt
At the top singles spot, No. 28
Mariana Rong continued to defend her position well with a straight-set victory over UIW's top player Marta Valles 7-6, 6-1.
Playing the No. 2 position,
Felicity Delgado won the first set, but dropped the following two in a tough three-set match, losing 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to UIW's Nicole Karaklis.
The No. 3 position was won by St. Mary's freshman Christina Lopez in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1 over UIW's Taryn Strahl. The Lady Rattlers also won at the No. 4 and No. 6 singles spots.
At No. 4, senior captain
Valentine Lambrechts won over Malisa Vatanadilok of UIW 6-1, 6-4.
In a hard-fought three-setter, freshman
Joanie Bryant brought in another personal victory taking the match 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 over UIW's Kelsey Reblin at the No. 6 position, completing the Rattlers' victory with a final score of 6-3.
“This is a big win for us, but we expect to compete like this on a regular basis,” St. Mary's head coach
Lisa Dausin said. “Hopefully there is more to come.”
St. Mary's Women's tennis moves to 9-3 on the season. The Lady Rattlers next will face Heartland Conference opponent Newman University at the St. Mary's Tennis Courts on Monday.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
