SAN ANTONIO — For the second-straight year, the DBU Lady Patriots ended St. Mary's University Women's Tennis team season, doing so on Monday with a 4-3 win in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional #2.
A year ago, DBU (22-4) knocked the Rattlers (17-4) out of the Lone Star Conference Tournament in the quarterfinals, 4-1, while this season the match went the distance and Lone Star Player of the Year Emily Buchanan got a late break of serve at line five of singles to clinch the victory, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
The doubles competition was extremely close on all three courts, with the first two being decided by a single break, 7-5 on court one and 6-4 on court two. The Rattlers duo of senior
Paula Garrote (Cartagena, Spain) and junior
Alessia Terlizzi (Andria, Italy) were ahead 6-5 when DBU clinched the point on court one.
"Like it's been all season, the doubles point is crucial," said Director of Tennis
Bill Macom. "We had a match point at number one and didn't convert it, unfortunately. DBU was able to capitalize from there and played some very good singles."
The Patriots took a 2-0 lead with a win at line two before the Rattlers won the next three bouts for a 3-2 advantage. Terlizzi broke the Rattlers onto the board, dropping only one game in a 6-1, 6-0 victory on court three against Leonie Schondelmaier.
Selina Wu, ranked No. 48, evened the score at line one. The sophomore from San Gabriel, Calif., defeated Katherine Robinson, 6-0, 7-6 (7-2).
Garrote fought back after dropping the second set in lopsided fashion to Isabella Arana Rios to win the deciding set with a late break of serve for the 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory in her final match in the Gold and Blue. She ends her career with 25 dual wins in two seasons at StMU and is the lone senior on the club.
Andrea Delgado won 7-5, 6-4 on court six for the Patriots, tying the team score at 3-3 and setting all eyes upon court five, where Buchanan remained undefeated on the year, coming back after dropping the first set to junior
Stela Sifuentes (Eagle Pass, Texas) to win in three sets.
The 17 wins for St. Mary's this season tie for the eighth-most in school history, and all top 10 win totals are in the last 13 years, with four of them coming while Macom has been at the helm of the program. Macom is now only five wins away from becoming the second coach in school history with 100 victories, as Lisa Dausin (2012-19) holds the record at 138.
