KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program returns to action this Friday, March 29, for the second Lone Star Conference matchup of the dual season when No. 15 Tarleton pays a visit to the Javelina Tennis Courts for a 2 p.m. CT first serve.

The Javelinas improved to 7-4 on the season last week with a 7-0 clean sweep of Western New Mexico on Sunday, with all three doubles matches favoring the Blue and Gold before only one singles flight went to a third set.

Senior Phonephathep Philavong (Vientiane, Laos) was the lone TAMUK member to have her matchup go to three sets as she battled back from a 6-4 loss in set one with a 7-6 victory in set two. She close out the match with the first six points of the supertiebreaker before she came away with a 10-2 win over Camilla Gomez in the second flight.

On the year, junior Julia Rauer (Leiselheim, Germany) leads the way with a 10-1 mark through all 11 matches, including a perfect 8-0 in the fifth flight. She is just ahead of classmate Valerie Ruiz (San Antonio, Texas) and sophomore Laura Montalvo (Cochabamba, Bolivia) as the pair each have seven wins in singles play to date.

In the doubles portion, Philavong has paired up with junior Victoria Romanovskaia (Simferopol, Crimea, Russia) and the tandem has turned in an 8-2 record on the year so far, with Ruiz and newcomer Loren Tristan (Corpus Christi, Texas) close behind at 7-3 as the two teams have split time between the second and third doubles flight.

Redshirt senior Lisa Carvajal (McAllen, Texas) and freshman Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.) are currently ranked 31st in the nation as a duo and have turned in a 3-5 mark in the top spot of the doubles lineup.

Tarleton, currently rated 15th in the latest ITA Division II rankings, owns an 8-4 record after have a five-match win streak snapped by Cameron on Tuesday by a margin of 4-3.

As a team, TSU is 46-22 in singles play with seven different TexAnns owning a record over .500 on the season. Nathalie Ulander leads the way with a 9-2 mark at the fifth singles position, with Neetika Sud close behind at 8-4 in the second spot.

Faustine Palatte and Alicia Barbaroux both sport seven wins on the season to round out four of the five singles matchups, with Sherine Salem anchoring the third spot behind a 6-5 mark.

In doubles play, Tarleton has trotted out nine different pairings on the sason, with Barbaroux splitting time in the top tandem with Salem and Sud. Barbaroux is 5-6 in doubles matches, 3-4 with Salem and 2-2 with Sud.

First serve for the matchup against the TexAnns is set for 2 p.m. CT on Friday, March 29.

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

######