CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The No. 50 Texas A&M University-Kingsville women's tennis program held on for a narrow 5-4 win over Angelo State on Friday morning to open the Lone Star Conference Women's Tennis Tournament at the H.E.B. Tennis Center, but fell to defending LSC Champion Midwestern State in the semifinal match to end the run.

The Javelinas (13-12) needed a win from sophomore Stephanie Baerman (San Antonio, Texas) in the match against the Rambelles (16-8) to secure the team decision, but couldn't recapture the magic from earlier in the year as the Mustangs (17-6) won the rematch when it mattered more to send the Hoggies back to Kingsville empty-handed.

MATCH ONE vs ANGELO STATE

ASU held the advantage at the conclusion of doubles play as the TAMUK duo of senior Viviana Ortiz (Guayaquil, Ecuador) and sophomore Victoria Romanovskaia (Simferopol, Crimea) took the lone win for the Javelinas at 8-5 over Virginie Becht and Lucie Maitrot in the No. 3 flight.

Freshman Laura Montalvo (Cochabamba, Bolivia) put the Blue and Gold on the brink of a win at the No. 3 singles bout with a hard-fought three-set win over Yasmine Ansari, but Maria Delgadillo bested junior Phonephathep Philavong (Vientiane, Laos) in the No. 2 matchup, also in three sets, to set the stage for Baerman's heroics against Maitrot.

Baerman dropped the first set, 6-2, before she bounced back with consecutive 6-3 wins in the next two to secure TAMUK's place in the semifinal match later in the day against top-seeded Midwestern State behind a 5-4 decision.

For complete results of the match against Angelo State, click here.

MATCH TWO vs NO. 14 MIDWESTERN STATE

The Javelinas failed to recapture the magic that carried them to a win in the regular-season match against the Mustangs as MSU claimed all three doubles matches heading into singles play.

Daria Panferova took the third singles flight over Montalvo to push the Javelinas to the edge before Baerman and sophomore Valerie Ruiz (San Antonio, Texas) stemmed the tide with wins in their matchups.

Unfortunately the comeback effort would fall short as the Mustangs took the No. 4 bout between Ashley Ramirez and sophomore Julia Rauer (Sasbach, Germany) to score their revenge at 5-2.

For complete results of the match against Midwestern State, click here.

With the 2018 season under wraps the Javelinas will look to the fall to being the year anew with a plethora of returners. Out of the 12 possible starting spots (six singles and six doubles), TAMUK will return starters in 11 with Ortiz as the graduating starter.

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