SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's University Women's Tennis team pushed its winning streak to four straight with its third consecutive over a nationally-ranked squad, beating No. 31 Texas A&M-Kingsville 6-1 on Friday afternoon.
The Rattlers are 14-2 on the year and improve to 6-1 in the Lone Star Conference, while the Javelinas drop to 11-7 overall and 5-4 in the league.
"It really could have been anyone's match today as the win was pretty tricky," said Director of Tennis
Bill Macom. "We were fortunate to get the doubles point, which gave us some good momentum going into singles. The matches were a lot closer than what the final score indicates, and I'm glad we pulled through a lot of those three-setters."
The sophomore tandem of
Gia Posito (Houston) and
Selina Wu (San Gabriel, Calif.) returned to the win column with a shutout at number two doubles, 6-0. The Javelinas evened things up with a 6-2 win at line three, setting up court one for the all-important first point. The duo of
Janel Ospanova (Karaganda, Kazakhstan) and
Stela Sifuentes (Eagle Pass, Texas) grabbed the 6-4 set win to give the Rattlers a 1-0 advantage.
Senior
Paula Garrote (Cartagena, Spain) made quick work at number four, winning 6-4, 6-2 to double the lead. Sifuentes finished moments later on court six, winning 6-2, 6-1 for a 3-0 score.
The Javelinas scored their lone point at number three, snapping the longest winning streak on the team as junior
Alessia Terlizzi (Andria, Italy) lost for the first time in Lone Star play, falling 6-3, 2-6, 4-6.
Posito snapped a four-match losing skid to clinch the team victory for the Rattlers with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win on court five. It is the second time this season she's scored the point to seal the victory for the team, and all six singles players have now done so at least twice in 2025.
Ospanova had a tough battle on court two, with each player getting late breaks of serve to split the first two sets with identical 7-5 scores. Ospanova was able to break serve twice in the final set to complete the 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 win.
Court one was the last to finish, with No. 38 Wu winning another tightly contested match. She won the opening set in tiebreak fashion, 7-6 (7-5), before getting broken late in the second set, 5-7. Wu refocused to win the deciding set 6-4.
The Rattlers conclude the 2025 home regular season on Saturday against #33 Angelo State at 1p.m. The Rambelles are ranked 33rd in the ITA poll.
