KINGSVILLE, Texas – It's been nearly four months since the last event for the Texas A&M-Kingsville tennis team, but the Javelinas are set to get back on court on Sunday in Edinburg, Texas, where they'll be battling the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros at 3 p.m.
The Javelinas competed in three events in the fall and compiled a record of 35-23 in singles play and a mark on 12-14 in doubles. Their performance was good enough to place them seventh in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's regional rankings.
The stars for coach Autumn Williams in the fall were sophomores Valerie Ruiz and Victoria Romanovskaia. Ruiz earned a regional singles ranking of No. 10 by the ITA and finished the fall with a record of 5-3. In TAMUK's most recent event, the ITA Regional Tournament, Ruiz fought all the way to the quarterfinals in the women's A singles draw, the best showing by a Kingsville student-athlete in that competition. In the doubles draw, Ruiz and Romanovskaia, ranked 14th regionally, joined forces and advanced to the semifinals, another first for the program. Together, the two are ranked as the seventh-best doubles tandem in the South Central region.
Freshman Laura Montalvo also made an impression in Midland. The native of Cochabamba, Bolivia cruised to the singles title in the women's B draw, knocking off three opponents on her way to the crown. In seven singles matches this season, Montalvo has put together a record of 6-1.
For the Vaqueros, the Javelinas will not be their first opponent of the day. They will first square off with Prairie View A&M at 9 a.m. before taking on TAMUK. Coach Sonia Hahn will be looking for her team to bounce back after losses in their two previous matches, which came at the hands of Texas A&M-College Station and the University of Texas.
Dominique Ibarra has posted the best singles record for UTRGV so far this season, with a mark of 4-2. She picked up a pair of wins in both of her team's fall events. In doubles play, the Vaqueros have amassed an even record of 11-11.
When these squads matched up last season, it was UTRGV that was doing the traveling and they were received rudely by the Javelinas, who dealt them a 5-4 defeat. Doubles triumphs by the tandems of Tabata Lua and Lisa Carvajal and Erika Larrea and Viviana Ortiz and singles wins by Carvajal, Larrea and Julie Rauer provided the winning points for the Hoggies.
For a recap of the match, as well as results, visit Javelinaathletics.com. Receive content for Texas A&M-Kingsville tennis by following @JavelinaTennis on Twitter and Instagram, like the official Facebook page of Javelina Athletics (/JavelinaSports), and subscribe to the JavelinaAthletics YouTube channel.
