KINGSVILLE, Texas – The 23rd-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program returns to action on the courts this weekend for a pair of Lone Star Conference matches against No. 21 Angelo State and UT Permian Basin.

The Javelinas are fresh off a thrilling 4-3 win over then-No. 15 Tarleton as junior Victoria Romanovskaia (Simferopol, Crimea, Russia) capped the win with a comeback victory over Faustine Palatte in the fourth singles flight over the course of three sets.

Palatte took the first set at 7-6 before Romanovskaia battled back at 6-1 in the second. The TexAnn took the first three points of the third set before the Javelina tacked on two of her own for a 3-2 score.

TSU's representative in the fourth singles match grabbed two of the next three for a 5-3 lead that put the visitors on the brink of the win, but it was the Simferopol School product who stood victorious when the dust settled as she claimed the final four points for a 7-5 decision.

Romanovskaia was also crucial in securing the doubles point as she teamed up with senior Phonephathep Philavong (Vientiane, Laos) in the third tandem and took down Shelby Fillingame and Nathalie Ulander at 6-3. Due to her efforts at the Javelina Tennis Courts, Romanovskaia was rewarded by the LSC as Player of the Week, the first of her career and second for TAMUK of the 2019 dual season.

Following the thrilling battle against TSU, Romanovskaia ran her doubles record with Philavong to 9-2 on the season, including six straight wins. She has also won her last four singles matchups for the Blue and Gold to put her season record at 5-4.

Junior Julia Rauer (Leiselheim, Germany) leads the group with an 11-1 mark after taking her seventh straight decision in the match against the TexAnns. She is a perfect 8-0 in the fifth flight for the Javelinas, who haven't dropped a match as a team on the year at 12-0.

Classmate Valerie Ruiz (San Antonio, Texas), who had a 19-match winning streak snapped earlier in the year, returned to her winning ways with a straight-set decision over Ulander at the fifth matchup to move her record to 8-2 on the season.

Sophomore Laura Montalvo (Cochabamba, Bolivia) stands as the fourth TAMUK member with a record over .500 as she sits at 7-4 on the season, including a 7-3 mark in the third singles matchup. As a team, the Javelinas are 42-25 in singles play.

In the doubles lineup, Ruiz has paired up with freshman Loren Tristan (Corpus Christi, Texas) for a 7-4 mark, while the duo of redshirt senior Lisa Carvajal (McAllen, Texas) and newcomer Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.) maintained their No. 31 spot in the ITA National Doubles rankings with a win against Alicia Barbaroux and Neetika Sud at 6-3 to move their record to 4-5 on the season.

Angelo State is headlined by an 18-3 record on the season and a perfect 4-0 in LSC play following a 4-3 win over MSU Texas just a few days earlier. The Rambelles also took a 4-3 win over Cameron coupled with a 6-1 decision over UTPB and a 7-0 sweep of Western New Mexico.

ASU sports a 73-30 record in singles play as a team, with Zoe Gubbels, Valentina Gonzalez and Maria Delgadillo each featuring more than 10 wins. Gubbels leads the team with a 15-4 record followed by Gonzalez's 14-2 mark, while Delgadillo brings up the rear at 12-3.

Lucie Maitrot is the other Rambelle nearing the 10-win mark as she is 9-1 on the season. In conference play, Angelo State has dropped only one matchup in the singles lineup.

In doubles, a 42-14 record punctuates the Rambelles' season as the duo of Gubbels and Virginie Brecht are 15-2 on the year, while Maitrot and Delgadillo are 12-6. Meanwhile, Gonzalez and Ena Ovcina round out the pairings with an 11-6 record as a tandem.

UTPB currently owns a 7-14 record on the year, 0-4 in LSC matches, but has won two of its previous three matches. The Falcons will square off with MSU Texas on Friday before coming to Kingsville on Saturday.

Paulina Obreque and Amelie Saint-Dizier lead the team with six wins each, though no member of the lineup features a record over .500. As a team, the Falcons are 32-63 in singles play with Melissa Ariza seeing the most action with a 5-11 record between the first two matchups.

In doubles play, UT Permian Basin is 15-31 and has featured nine different pairings on the season. Ariza and Jessica Madamba have been the most consistent with a 6-6 mark, while Saint-Dizier and Madison Hoetling are 4-10.

First serve for the matchup against Angelo State is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 6, while the match against UT Permian Basin will get underway at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 7.

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

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