Women's Tennis Wins Thriller Over Angelo State

SAN ANTONIO – It all came down to number six singles on Saturday for St. Mary's Women's Tennis against one of the teams the Rattlers tied a season ago for the Lone Star Conference regular season title and a freshman lifted the team to a 4-3 win over Angelo State.
 
Stela Sifuentes, in her first season for St. Mary's (17-3, 5-1 Lone Star) came back after a tough tiebreaker setback in the second set to win the final two games of the third set and post the 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 clinching victory. She wins her eighth straight match and improves to 13-2 in duals, clinching the ninth-straight win for the Gold & Blue.
 
For the ninth consecutive contest, the Rattlers broke onto the scoreboard first by winning the doubles point. 
 
The tandem of Ashley Penshorn (Montgomery, Texas) and Kyndall Quiroz (San Antonio) dropped only one game for the 6-1 score at number one, while Gabi Ioannou (Melbourne, Australia) and Sifuentes (Eagle Pass, Texas) fought hard for the 6-4 victory at number three.
 
Senior Angela Vargas (Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico) posted a straight-sets win at #2 singles to double the Rattlers lead. She defeated #55 Letizia Corsini 6-3, 6-2 for her first victory over a nationally-ranked player this spring.
 
The Rambelles (12-4, 4-2 Lone Star) won the next three points, winning in straight sets on courts one, four and three to take a 3-2 lead.
 
Ioannou dropped the first set at number five singles 6-3, but fought back to win the next two 6-3, 6-2 for her second consecutive win of the weekend. Ioannou knotted the team score at 3-3 and turned the entire crowd's attention to court six.
 
The Rattlers take their nine-match streak back out on the road next week, playing at UAFS at 1 p.m. on Friday and #18 Cameron at 10 a.m. on Saturday.