SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's women's tennis players wrapped themselves in their championship banner Saturday, enjoying a celebration they couldn't help but see coming.
The 19
th-ranked Rattlers swept Arkansas-Fort Smith 5-0 in Saturday's Heartland Conference Tournament championship match, securing back-to-back conference-tournament championships on their home court at the Rohrbach Stadium Tennis Complex.
"We came into the conference tournament the number one seed, thinking we were going to win," said St. Mary's No. 2 player
Cristina Lopez. "We were definitely tested, but we prevailed over some tough situations that we faced."
Lopez said the turning point came in the doubles matches, where the Rattlers (15-4) swept some deeply intense action.
Mariana Rong and Lopez teamed up in the No. 1 spot to beat Abby White and Brittaney McCasin 8-6, while the Rattlers' No. 2s were also tested, with
Felicity Delgado and
Jamie Lee Denton prevailing 8-4.
Ariana Saldana and
Joanie Bryant ensured the sweep when they held off Whitney Hobson and Madison Carr in the best match of all, winning 9-7.
Lopez and Rong then provided the decisive points in singles. Rong defeated Abby White 6-1, 6-2, while Lopez cruised past Amy Belanger 6-1, 6-1.
With the victory, the Rattlers continued their recent ascent up the national tennis scene, where the program has enjoyed countless "firsts" over the past two seasons under third-year coach
Lisa Dausin.
"It's awesome," Lopez said. "San Antonio's so close. Anyone you run into, they know St. Mary's has made the face of men's and women's tennis. We're just going off of that. It will be awesome to look back in 10, 20 years to know that we started it all."
St. Mary's entered the week ranked No. 2 in the South Central Region, giving it a chance to host one of next week's regional tournament matches. The Rattlers will learn their regional fate Monday.
"(The cameras) are here, there are so much more fans," Lopez said of the possibility of hosting a regional match. "It's such a better feeling knowing we're on our home court."
