DALLAS — The St. Mary's men's and women's tennis programs are on the doorstep of winning their first-ever Heartland Conference championships.
The No. 44-ranked men advanced to the Heartland Conference finals after beating Texas-Permian Basin 5-0 on Friday, while the 28th-ranked women topped Arkansas-Fort Smith 5-1 to also advance to Saturday's championship game.
The No. 1-seeded men will take on No. 2 seed St. Edward's at 12 p.m., while the No. 1-seeded women will also compete in “Battle of the Saints” showdown against the second-seeded Hilltoppers. The women's match will begin at 9 a.m.
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.
