Lone Star Conference Championship • Arlington Tennis Center
Thursday, April 20 • 3 p.m. • DBU (17-8, 5-5) vs #20 St. Mary's (20-4, 8-2)
Friday, April 21 • 1 p.m. • #32 Midwestern State/Lubbock Christian
Saturday, April 2 • 1 p.m. • Finals
NET POINTS
• St. Mary's earned the three-seed at the 2023 Lone Star Conference Championship, beginning on Thursday at the Arlington Tennis Center, where they will face sixth-seeded DBU at 3 p.m.
• The Rattlers are the defending Lone Star Conference Tournament Champions, winning in 2022 with victories over DBU (4-0), UT Tyler (4-1) and Cameron (4-2). Angela Vargas was named MVP of the championship, while Gabi Ioannou, Ashley Penshorn and Alice Thane were all named to the All-Tournament team.
• St. Mary's is currently 20-4, needing one win to tie the school record for victories in a season. The 2015, 2016 and 2022 teams all won 21 matches as well as the conference tournament.
• The Rattlers are very familiar with DBU during conference tournament time as they are 6-1 against the Patriots. The two teams have only met once - a year ago - in the Lone Star while the first six were all part of the Heartland Conference. The Rattlers won matches in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2016, 2019 and 2022 with the lone loss in 2012.
• Angela Vargas sports the team's longest active winning streak in singles as she has won 11 straight. The senior has also won 10 of the 11 in straight sets, only needing three in the upset over #32 Anastasia Uspenskaia from Cameron.
• Ashley Penshorn and Angela Vargas were named to the All-Conference First Team in singles, while Vargas was also named to the All-Sportsmanship Team. Penshorn and Kyndall Quiroz earned spots on First Team in doubles. Stela Sifuentes was named to the Second Team in singles and she and Gabi Ioannou earned honorable mention All-Conference in doubles.
• With the 4-3 win earlier this season, StMU is now 18-5 all-time against DBU with a 5-2 mark on DBU's home courts - which happens to be the Arlington Tennis Center.
• Senior Gabi Ioannou's hit the 40-win milestone in both singles and doubles in the last two matches of the year. She won the 40th match of her singles career in the win over UTPB and reached win No. 40 in doubles on Saturday against WNMU.
• The duo of senior Gabi Ioannou and freshman Stela Sifuentes has been on fire since first coming together this spring. The pair are 13-1 in doubles matches, with 11 victories coming at #3.
• St. Mary's climbed one spot back into the top #20 this week after being #21 for one week.
• In the ITA individual rankings, senior Ashley Penshorn is 19th in the singles rankings, while senior Angela Vargas is #45. Penshorn and Kyndall Quiroz remain at #9 in the doubles rankings.
