SAN ANTONIO — In the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, the St. Mary's University Women's Tennis team is ranked 12th.
The Rattlers are one of four Lone Star Conference teams in the top-25, as Midwestern State begins the spring season ranked 8th, UT Tyler is 18th, and Lubbock Christian is 25th.
"Having four conference teams voted into the top 25 shows you how much respect there is for the LSC from around the country," Director of Tennis
Bill Macom said. "There are also a few more teams from our conference that could've received votes. Everyone has improved their lineups from last year. Regardless, it's always a competitive schedule for us we've got a lot of work to do!"
St. Mary's won a share of the regular season title a season ago in the LSC and returns four letterwinners off that team, in addition to DBU transfer
Madalynn Smelley, who helped knock the Rattlers out of postseason play in the South Central Regional. They finished 17-4 overall with a 9-1 mark in LSC play.
Seniors
Gia Posito (Houston) and
Alessia Terlizzi (Andria, Italy) are coming off a second-place finish at the ITA South Central Regional in the doubles main draw, while junior
Selina Wu (San Gabriel, Calif.) won the backdraw in singles.
The season gets underway on Saturday, Jan. 17, with an exhibition at UIW at 1 p.m. on the Mabry Tennis Center courts. The Rattlers also have an exhibition against UTSA on Jan. 22 at 1 p.m.
