DALLAS — The Rattlers' historical run to the South Central Region Women's Tennis Tournament has come to an end.
No. 27 Midwestern State edged the No. 28 St. Mary's Rattlers 5-3 Saturday, advancing to the Round of 16 in Surprise, Ariz. The loss snapped a seven-match win streak for St. Mary's (18-5) and ended the playoff run that saw the Rattlers advance to regionals for the first time in program history.
St. Mary's fell behind 2-1 in doubles, with
Valentine Lambrechts and
Joanie Bryant pulling out the team's lone victory. But the Rattlers quickly came back in singles, as No. 29
Mariana Rong won in the No. 1 position — improving to 21-0 on the season in singles play — and
Cristina Lopez pulled off a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the No. 2 spot to put St. Mary's up 3-2.
But Midwestern stormed back, winning the No. 3, 4 and 6 positions to win the match 5-3.
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.
