SAN ANTONIO — St. Mary's Women's Tennis have earned the right to defend its Heartland Conference Championship crown.
The Rattlers, seeded No. 1 in the tournament, advanced to the conference tournament championship match after defeating No. 4-seeded St. Edward's in a dominating performance, winning 5-0 Friday morning.
No. 19 St. Mary's will play No. 2-seeded UA Fort Smith for the championship crown at 9 a.m. Saturday at Rohrbach Stadium.
After a one-hour rain delay, the Rattlers started the morning by storming through all three doubles matches to gain a 3-0 lead over the Hilltoppers.
No. 1 doubles partners
Mariana Rong and
Cristina Lopez defeated Brooke Hughes and Sasha Khadzhyan 8-3 while
Felicity Delgado and Jaime Lee Denton defeated Rafaela Haegele and Francesca Chaher 8-4 in No. 2 doubles.
Ariana Saldana and
Joanie Bryant won in No. 3 doubles 8-3, defeating Summer Biggs and Breanne Hesseltine.
The Rattlers' work in doubles only needed two singles wins to close out the semifinal match as Saldana and Bryant delivered, making quick work as No. 5 and No. 6 singles, winning 6-0, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-0 respectively.
Rong, Lopez, Denton and Delgado went unfinished as No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles, with each winning their first set without needing to complete their second, each of which were ahead.
After claiming the 2014 regular-season title, the Rattlers will now go for their second straight tournament title under head coach
Lisa Dausin.
Live video and live stat links for the championship match can be found on the
Tournament Central Page.
