Women's Tennis Wins Lone Star Conference Tournament

ARLINGTON, Texas – The 2022 edition of the Women's Tennis Team adds its name to a distinguished list at St. Mary's University, winning its first-ever Lone Star Conference Championship with a thrilling 4-2 win over #9 Cameron.
 
The Rattlers, ranked 20th in the nation, are in their third season in the league, but it's the first championship as 2020 was canceled due to Covid and 2021 scratched due to inclement weather. The 20-3 Rattlers avenged an earlier 5-2 loss to the Aggies (20-5) and won their eighth-straight conference tournament championship as they won the final seven in the Heartland Conference.
 
"The ladies were down a set in a few matches," Director of Tennis Bill Macom said. "They did a great job listening to all of our coaches and keeping their composure. I think our best tennis is still ahead of us."
 
In tightly contested battles, the Rattlers were able to squeeze out the first point of the match. The No. 2 duo of seniors Ashley Penshorn (Montgomery, Texas) and Alice Thane (Elloughton, East Yorkshire, England) won the final two games for the 6-4 win, while the No. 3 tandem of senior Maria Vigil (Gijon, Spain) and junior Gabi Ioannou (Melbourne, Australia) fought back from a 5-1 deficit to win 7-5. 
 
The No. 1 doubles team of junior Angela Vargas (Del Rio, Texas) and freshman Bailey Godwin (San Antonio) was knotted with the 10th-ranked team of Anastasia Uspenskaia and Magda Wawrowska 5-5 when it was called.
 
Thane pitched a shutout at No. 6 singles, winning 6-0, 6-0 to give the Rattlers a 2-0 edge. Ioannou recorded several breaks of serve in each set to win 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5.
 
Vigil and Kateryna Rudenko battled at No. 4 singles, but the Aggies got their first point with a 6-1, 6-4 win.
 
At No. 1 singles, #41 Vasilisa Polunova cut the Rattlers lead to one with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 win over #40 Penshorn to make the team score 3-2.
 
The Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year showed why the league's coaches honored her. Vargas dropped the first set 6-1, but dug deep and only dropped three games the remainder of the way, winning 6-2, 6-1 to clinch the team's first-ever Lone Star Championship.
 
Senior Maria Garcia (Valencia, Spain), currently ranked #42 was locked in a third-set fight at No. 3 singles against #49 Lea Manga. Manga won the first set 6-2, but Garcia came back to win the second set 6-4 and they were tied 2-2 in the decider when Vargas won.
 
At the conclusion of the tournament, Vargas was named to the tournament MVP, while Ioannou, Penshorn and Thane joined her on the All-Tournament team. Polunova and Rudenko from Cameron, Leony Deutschmann (UT Tyler) and Alessa Maier (Texas A&M Kingsville) joined the quartet of Rattlers on the squad.
 
The Rattlers advance to the NCAA South Central Regionals with the conference's automatic bid. The NCAA DII Women's Tennis Selection Show will air Tuesday, May 3rd at 8:30 PM ET on NCAA.com.