KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program will take its annual Spring Break road trip starting on Saturday, March 9, with a road match against regional foe St. Edward's in Austin, Texas.

The Javelinas will follow that up with a pair of matches in San Antonio, first against Southwest Baptist on March 11 followed by a contest against Auburn Montgomery on March 12, and will wrap the trip in Orlando, Fla., against Charleston on March 14 and Palm Beach Atlantic on March 16.

TAMUK suffered a pair of losses in the last two matches, ending up on the backend of a hard-fought 4-3 decision to Dallas Baptist on February 20 before succumbing to Division-I foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6-1 on February 24 at home.

Despite the less-than-favorable outcomes, the Blue and Gold still had plenty to celebrate as junior Valerie Ruiz (San Antonio, Texas) ran her unbeaten streak in the dual season to 18 straight dating back to the 2018 spring schedule as she was the lone holdout in the loss to the Islanders as she downed Myu Kageyama in three sets, 6-7, 6-3 and 10-8.

Ruiz battled back from a 6-2 deficit in the super tiebreaker set and eventually knotted the score at 8-8 before coming away with the win.

The streak for the San Antonio native currently stretches back to March 13, 2018, when she bested Linying Xiao from MSU Denver in three sets. The win over Kageyama marks the second D-I opponent she has bested in the run as she also downed Eli Arnaudova from New Mexico State in straight sets back on March 21, 2018.

Throughout the streak, Ruiz has allowed only four matches to go to three sets, with the first four wins in 2019 coming in straight sets before the matchup against Kageyama went to a third. On the year, she is 4-0 in the fourth singles position, 1-0 in the fifth spot, and has teamed up with newcomer Loren Tristan (Corpus Christi, Texas) as the third doubles tandem for a 4-1 mark.

Junior Julia Rauer (Leiselheim, Germany) sits second on the team with a 4-1 mark between the fifth and sixth spot in the singles lineup, while sophomore Laura Montalvo (Cochabamba, Bolivia) owns a 3-1 mark between the third and fourth position.

St. Edward's, currently ranked fourth in the South Central Region according to the ITA, is sporting a 7-1 mark on the year after extending the winning streak to five matches with a 4-3 decision over then-No. 23 Tarleton on March 7.

Valentina Martinez and Fanni Novak are the lone Hilltoppers who remain unbeaten through the dual season as Martinez features a 7-0 mark between the third, fourth and fifth flights in the singles lineup, while Novak is 3-0 between the fifth and sixth spot. Paola Carpio, Loli Perim, Kate Malazonia and Elisa Guillen aren't far off as each has only suffered one loss on the year to date.

SEU will feature a potent doubles lineup as Carpio and Perim at the second and third tandem, along with Martinez and Beth Hayward as the top duo, are all unbeaten on the year at 6-0 and 5-0, respectively. Overall, St. Edward's is 39-9 as a team in the singles lineup, 20-3 in the doubles portion.

Southwest Baptist is currently the 18th ranked program in the nation, third in the Central Region, has only faced two opponents in the dual season, taking a 7-0 loss to Durry on February 22 before coming away with a 4-3 win over Newman on February 23.

The Bearcats have trotted out the same singles lineup in both matches, with the top three of Jill Van Den Dungen, Klara Vickov and Constanca Crespo all going 1-1 so far. As a team, SBU is 4-8 in the singles portion of the match.

For the doubles lineup, a 1-5 team mark punctuates Southwest Baptist with Vickov and Diana Cabrera taking the lone win in the second tandem over NU.

Auburn Montogmery is currently unranked in both the national and regional rankings from the ITA as the program is currently in the Provisional Year 3 of the transition to the NCAA Division-II from the NAIA. A 3-4 mark currently shows on the Warhawks' schedule with only one win coming in their last five matches, a 7-0 shutout of West Georgia.

Tonja Foessmeier is the lone AUM member with a record over .500 in singles play as she carries a 5-2 mark between the second and third flights in the singles lineup. Alba De la Torre and Svenja Petri are the top tandem for the doubles portion as the two own a 5-1 mark between the second and third positions in the doubles lineup.

As a team, the Warhawks are 18-21 in singles play, 11-9 in doubles.

Charleston, currently receiving votes in the national poll but ranked fourth in the Atlantic Region, has yet to suffer a loss with a 6-0 record punctuating the dual season following a 7-0 drubbing of Notre Dame College.

The Golden Eagles will face four other program in Orlando prior to the matchup against the Javelinas.

Palm Beach Atlantic, unranked in both the national poll and in the region, are carrying a five-match win streak prior to a matchup against Mercyhurst on March 8 for a 5-3 mark in the dual season. PBA has dropped only four points in that span with a 27-4 score overall.

Three Sailfish own a .500 or better record on the year, with Bella Mermersky topping the group with a 5-3 mark including a perfect 3-0 record at the top singles position. Vanessa Buchbinder and Consuela Vangrinsven each sport a 4-4 record on the year as the team is 23-22 in singles play.

Buchbinder, alongside Yuliia Russu, lead the doubles teams with a 5-2 mark as the top tandem, with Mermersky and Vangrinsven at 4-3 as the second duo, and Elvira Edstrom and Nicole Reich owning a 4-3 mark at the third pairing.

The first matchup against St. Edward's is set for 11 a.m. CT at the Austin Tennis Academy on Saturday, March 9.

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

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