WACO, Texas – The No. 27 Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program cruised through the 2019 Lone Star Conference Championship Quarterfinal matchup against Western New Mexico as play resumed on Friday at the Waco Regional Tennis Center, but ran into MSU Texas in the semifinal match and came up short to bring the tournament run to an end.

The Javelinas (12-8) downed the first group of Mustangs (8-15) from Silver City, N.M., by a score of 4-0, but couldn't stop the stampede of Mustangs (19-6) from Wichita Falls, Texas, as MSU Texas got the upperhand in the second contest of the day.

MATCH ONE: TAMUK vs WNMU

The Blue and Gold worked through the first matchup with relative ease as junior Victoria Romanovskaia (Simferopol, Crimea, Russia) and senior Phonephathep Philavong (Vientiane, Laos) started the contest with a 6-1 win over Carolina Torrico and Nicole Gonzalez in the second doubles flight.

Freshman Loren Tristan (Corpus Christi, Texas) and junior Valerie Ruiz (San Antonio, Texas) secured the doubles point for TAMUK with a 6-3 decision over Karina Diaz Kolovos and Julia Terrazas in the third flight to flip the lineup over to singles play.

Ruiz carried her momentum into a straight-set win over Gonzalez in the fifth singles pairing at 6-0, 6-1, while Romanovskaia one-upped her with a perfect 6-0, 6-0 win over Torrico in the fourth spot.

Junior Julia Rauer (Leiselheim, Germany) capped off the win for the Javelinas as she claimed a 6-3, 6-0, win over Terrazas in the sixth pairing to bring the match to an early end.

MATCH TWO: TAMUK vs MSU Texas

The Blue and Gold failed to recapture the magic in the second match of the day as MSU Texas took the doubles point starting with a 6-3 win in the third flight after Lea Cizeron and Taylor Gray took the decision over Tristan and Ruiz.

The 10th-ranked tandem of Bianca Duff and Ashley Ramirez secured the point for the Mustangs with a 7-5 win over the 46th-ranked combo of redshirt senior Lisa Carvajal (McAllen, Texas) and newcomer Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.) to start the singles portion of play.

Carvajal enacted her revenge against top at the top singles flight with a 6-1, 6-3, straight-set win for the lone TAMUK point. Her decision wasn't enough to swing the momentum, unfortunately, as Ramirez moved MSU Texas closer to the team win with a 6-3, 6-0, win over Ruiz in the fifth flight.

The 66th-ranked soloist Greta Lazzarotto added a straight-set win over Philavong in the second pairing, while Cizeron won out for the Mustangs with a 7-5, 6-1, decision over sophomore Laura Montalvo (Cochabamba, Bolivia) in the third matchup.

The Javelinas will await their NCAA South Central Regional fate on Tuesday, May 7, with the announcement of the 2019 NCAA Division II Tennis Championships and the four selections to the regional bracket.

TAMUK is slotted fourth in the latest regional rankings with LSC foes Angelo State (first) and MSU Texas (third), and the Heartland Conference runner-up St. Edwards (second) all ahead of the Blue and Gold. St.Mary's (fifth) claimed the first automatic bid from the region by defeating the Hilltoppers in the Heartland Conference Championship.

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

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