Box Score SAN ANTONIO – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program was downed by its first nationally-ranked opponent of the season on Monday, after suffering a 4-2 loss at the hands of No. 18 Southwest Baptist in a neutral site match at San Antonio.

The Javelinas (3-4) dropped the doubles point with senior Phonephathep Philavong (Vientiane, Laos) and junior Victoria Romanovskaia (Simferopol, Crimea, Russia) serving as the lone holdout tandem the doubles lineup. The duo bested the Bearcats' (2-1) Sarah Brown and Emma Davis in the third matchup at 6-1 while SBU claimed wins in the other two duos.

Romanovskaia carried her momentum over to the singles portion of competition as she took down Brown in three sets with the Javelina laying claim to the super tiebreaker at 6-4 to clinch the point at the fifth flight.

Junior Julia Rauer (Leiselheim, Germany) was the other TAMUK member to tally a point for the team as she bested Davis in the sixth matchup in a perfect 6-0, 6-0, outing. It was the second time during the season Rauer had claimed a perfect showing in straight sets as she took down Ana Zaidan from UT Tyler in similar fashion back on February 17.

SBU claimed the win with wins in the first, third and fourth singles pairing, with junior Valerie Ruiz's (San Antonio, Texas) unbeaten streak officially coming to an end in the fourth match as she was toppled by Diana Cabrera in consecutive sets at 6-3, 6-4. The 19-match streak, now broken, dated back to the 2018 dual season for Ruiz as she first took down Linying Xiao from MSU Denver on March 13 to spark the run.

To see complete results, click here.

The Javelinas will face Auburn Montgomery on March 12 with first serve at 9:30 a.m. to close the matches in San Antonio.

To keep up-to-date with Javelina tennis, follow the program on Facebook at /JavelinaSports or on Twitter @JavelinaTennis

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