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The Rattlers celebrate their regional victory Saturday.

Women's Tennis RattlerAthletics.com

As "sweet" as can be, StMU advances to National Tournament

Rattlers set to make 2nd straight Sweet 16 appearance

By Ruben Dominguez | St. Mary's Athletics Communications 

SAN ANTONIO — Book your tickets Rattler fans, the St. Mary's Women's Tennis team is heading to the NCAA Division II National Tournament for the second straight season.

The Rattlers hosted and defeated Western New Mexico Mustangs in the South Central Regional, 5-0, at Rohrbach Stadium Saturday morning to earn their second straight trip to the Sweet 16.
The win marked the 20th of the season for the Snakes and proved to be their most significant to date and possibly the most convincing.

With the victory, the No. 13 team in the nation clinched a berth to the Sweet 16 round of the National Championship for the second straight season and will now vie for a chance to be named the NCAA Division II Champions.

"At the first of the year when we first set team goals, we talked about and said we have to do better than last year," said head coach Lisa Dausin. "Recently and how strong they been playing, I think the girls are convinced why not win it all."

Winning today was the first step on the agenda, and through the efforts of the No. 7 doubles team in the nation, Mariana Rong (Sr., Jinan, China) and Cristina Lopez (Jr., San Antonio) made quick work of the Mustangs' Ganna Tiurina and Annica Betz in a 35-minute affair to win it, 8-1.

The No. 1's were quickly followed by the Rattlers' No. 2 team and No. 21 nationally-ranked Jamie Lee Denton (Jr., San Angelo, Texas) and Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year Kaylin Kruseman (Fr., Houston). They defeated WNMU's Ashley Newell and Tiffany Newell 8-3 to put St. Mary's up 2-0.

With the last doubles match on court, Felicity Delgado (Sr., Universal City, Texas) and Kerry Wiegand (Jr., San Antonio) completed the doubles sweep when they defeated Claudia Osuna and Pauline Ernin 8-4 giving the Rattlers a hefty lead.

Attention turned to singles play with the Rattlers boasting a 3-0 advantage, as they would only need two singles wins to complete the victory.

Those two wins would come by way of Denton and Lopez and in convincing fashion to say the least.

Denton would put her team up 4-0 with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Ashley Newell at No. 3 and Lopez would clinch the win for StMU defeating Betz by a reversed score of 6-0, 6-1.

StMU now gears up for the NCAA D-II National Championship Tournament in Surprise, Ariz. from May 13-16.

The Rattlers will now look to improve on their success from last season that saw them advance to the Sweet 16, which is something Dausin believes is more than possible.

"The stage is set for us to go win the big one and we don't need to wait," she said. "I can't wait to show them (the team) off."

The Rattlers enter the National Championship Tournament 20-1 on the season and will learn of their opponent and match details to come. 



 
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Players Mentioned

Felicity Delgado

Felicity Delgado

5' 2"
Senior
Jamie Lee Denton

Jamie Lee Denton

5' 8"
Junior
Cristina Lopez

Cristina Lopez

5' 1"
Junior
Mariana Rong

Mariana Rong

5' 10"
Senior
Kaylin Kruseman

Kaylin Kruseman

5' 4"
Freshman
Kerry Wiegand

Kerry Wiegand

5' 8"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Felicity Delgado

Felicity Delgado

5' 2"
Senior
Jamie Lee Denton

Jamie Lee Denton

5' 8"
Junior
Cristina Lopez

Cristina Lopez

5' 1"
Junior
Mariana Rong

Mariana Rong

5' 10"
Senior
Kaylin Kruseman

Kaylin Kruseman

5' 4"
Freshman
Kerry Wiegand

Kerry Wiegand

5' 8"
Junior

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