TEMPE, Ariz. (ITA/TAMUK) – The Texas A&M University-Kingsville women's tennis program moved up to the No. 38 spot in the Oracle/ITA Division II Women's Rankings on Wednesday following a perfect 3-0 weekend.
The Javelinas took a win over Laredo CC to start the road trip before following up with a pair of Lone Star decisions over UT-Permian Basin and No. 36 Angelo State to move to 11-10 overall and 3-2 in LSC play.
This week, TAMUK will close the regular season with another three-match road swing, first by taking on UTEP on Friday, April 13, before closing the Lone Star schedule at Western New Mexico the following day and wrapping up the regular season on Sunday at St. Mary's.
The Blue and Gold turned in an 8-1 win over the Palominos to open the road trip, going perfect in doubles play before missing out on one singles bout for the perfect day.
Sophomore
Valerie Ruiz (San Antonio, Texas) and senior
Martina Urrutia (Madrid, Spain) both had convincing straight-set wins over their Laredo CC opponent with identical 6-0, 6-0 wins, while sophomore
Victoria Romanovskaia (Simferopol, Crimea) and senior
Viviana Ortiz (Guayaquil, Ecuador) turned in an 8-0 win in doubles play.
TAMUK followed up with a 6-3 win over the Falcons for its second conference win, getting a perfect 6-0, 6-0 performance from sophmore
Julia Rauer (Sasbach, Germany) in the process.
The Javelinas closed the weekend with a narrow 5-4 win over the 36th-ranked Rambelles as junior
Phonephathep Philavong (Vientiane, Laos) sparked a 4-0 Blue and Gold run in singles play to secure the decision.
UTEP is currently 6-13 on the year so far with only two wins in its last 11 matches, including one over Angelo State on March 30.
The Miners are led by Erandi Martinez in singles play, who currently owns a 10-5 record in duals, 20-10 overall. Martinez has seen action at all six singles spots but has primarily rotated at the No. 2 and No. 3 bouts with a 2-3 and 4-1 record, respectively.
Western New Mexico is currently in the midst of a 16-match skid after dropping contests to ranked foes Cameron (No. 15), Midwestern State (No. 18) and St. Mary's (No. 8).
Klara Smolikova has been the most consistent member of the Mustangs as she owns a 6-11 record in duals between the Nos. 1 and 2 spots.
St. Mary's is currently seventh in the Oracle/ITA rankings after besting Newman along with WNMU. The Rattlers will feature five singles players with at least 10 wins, led by a 13-4 mark from Kaylin Kruseman at the No. 1 flight.
The first match of the weekend against UTEP has will have first serve scheduled for 1 p.m. CT at the El Paso Tennis Club.
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