SAN ANTONIO – Prior to the match on Saturday afternoon, the St. Mary's Women's Tennis team honored the contributions of three amazing seniors in
Gabi Ioannou,
Ashley Penshorn and
Angela Vargas and the trio helped lead the Rattlers to a 7-0 sweep over Western New Mexico.
The Rattlers (20-4, 8-2 Lone Star Conference) ended the regular season tied for second place in the Lone Star standings and will be the three-seed at the upcoming conference tournament that begins Thursday, April 20 at the Arlington Tennis Center. It is the second-straight season and the fifth time in school history the team has hit the 20-match win milestone.
"It was a nice sweep for the girls today," said Director of Tennis
Bill Macom. "Now they can get some rest and gear up for the LSC Tournament."
Each of the seniors were on one of the three doubles courts, getting the Rattlers going with the opening point.
Penshorn paired with junior
Kyndall Quiroz (San Antonio) as they have all season and won a quick 6-1 decision at number one. The pair are 27-6 on the year and 17-5 in duals and the 27 victories ranks third in school history for any tandem. They trail Jamie Lee Denton and Kaylin Kruseman, who won 30 matches overall and were 21-1 in duals in 2014-15 and Kruseman and Tyra Timm who were 19-4 in duals and won 28 total in 2017-18.
Ioannou and freshman
Stela Sifuentes (Eagle Pass, Texas) at number three doubles won by the identical 6-1 score, improving to 13-1 on the season and an impressive 7-1 in conference play.
Vargas partnered with freshman
Alessia Terlizzi (Andria, Italy) for the second match in a row and won 6-4 to complete the sweep.
The solid play continued through singles as Penshorn pitched the 6-0, 6-0 shutout on court one and four others won in straight sets. Ioannou was broken late in the first set and lost 7-5, but she rebounded to win 6-2 and 10-4 in the international doubles tiebreak format in set three.
The Lone Star Tournament begins on Thursday. Match times will be announced later this week.
