KINGSVILLE, Texas – In the first home match on their 2018 schedule, the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis team topped a Division I opponent, the Prairie View A&M Panthers, 5-1 on Thursday night at the Javelina Tennis Courts in Kingsville, Texas.

The Javelinas have now won three straight to even their record at 3-3. Praire View is still searching for that first victory and their record now stands at 0-10.

The Hoggies started the match with solid play in doubles competition that allowed them to seize the early lead. Viviana Ortiz and Phonephathep Philavong combined to put on an impressive performance to grab TAMUK's first point of the day in 8-1 fashion. Not far behind were Laura Montalvo and Stephanie Baerman, who defeated Tatiana Ruhl and Timara Maxwell for the day's second point. Neharika Rama and Constanza Aranguiz stole the third doubles point for the Panthers by besting Victoria Romanovskaia and Valerie Ruiz, 8-3.

The match then moved to singles play and the teams were set to square off in six matches, but the Javs only needed three to clinch the victory. Julia Rauer started the singles portion of the match with an easy 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Jimena Duran-Castellanos and Romanovskaia moved her team one point away from a win by pitching a 6-0, 6-0 shutout over Stacy Lackey. Searching for the clincher, TAMUK looked to Montalvo and she delivered. After stumbling in the first set, she bounced back to take the second, 6-4, and sealed the win in the third, triumphing 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Coach Autumn Williams and her student-athletes get a short break before heading to Austin for a match with Dallas Baptist University on Feb. 20th. Receive content for Texas A&M-Kingsville tennis by following @JavelinaTennis on Twitter and Instagram, liking the official Facebook page of Javelina Athletics (/JavelinaSports), and subscribing to the JavelinaAthletics YouTube channel.