ARLINGTON, Texas - The second day of the 2019 ITA South Central Regional saw a handful of members from the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program reach the final round of their respective brackets at the three-day tournament hosted by Lone Star Conference foe DBU.

Sophomore Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.) blazed a trail through the B Singles draw of the bracket and got the better of her first opponent, Angelo State's Anna Schneeman, in three sets. Schneeman grabbed set one, 7-5, but Donkor battled back in set two, 6-4, before clinching the decisive set convincingly, 10-5.

Donkor followed up with another thrilling three-set win, this time against St. Mary's Alice Thane, as the Javelina took set one, 6-3, before the Rattler returned the favor in set two, 6-4.

The McLean, Va., native won out in the third set, however, with a score of 10-3 to advance to Saturday's final in the draw. She will face another Rattler in Maria Garcia on the third day of the competition.

The consolation bracket of the B Singles draw featured newcomer Daniela Koleva (Kocani, North Macedonia) and veteran Stephanie Baerman (San Antonio, Texas) on a collision course for one another. Koleva took down Chloe Dix from UT Tyler in straight sets, 7-5 and 6-4, and added another straight-set win over DBU's Devon Austin-Canning, 6-1 and 6-4. Baerman, meanwhile, took down Austin-Canning's teammate, Karin Comegys, in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-2, and reached the final with a flawless run against Ainsley Winterrouwd from Metro State, 6-0 and 6-0.

Baerman and Koleva are slotted to face one another on Saturday's final at 9 a.m.

The Javelinas who started the second day in the A Singles draw didn't fare as well, unfortunately, with seniors Valerie Ruiz (San Antonio, Texas) and Julia Rauer (Leiselheim, Germany) both falling in their first matches of the day.

Ruiz dropped a hard-fought match to 14th-seeded Ashley Penshorn from StMU, 6-2 and 6-4, while Rauer took fourth-seeded Kate Malazonia from St. Edward's to a third set before falling to the Hilltopper. Malazonia took the first set, 6-3, before Rauer rebounded in the second, 6-2, but Malazonia held out in the final to clinch the match, 6-4.

Over in the A Singles Consolation bracket, freshman Franka Sindicic (Zagreb, Croatia) took on the Rattlers' Charli Delmonico, but lost out in straight sets, 7-6 and 6-2.

The lone TAMUK tandem still in contention in the B Doubles bracket were Rauer and Koleva as the two faced Kayla Myburg and Gala Castello from MSU Denver. Any hopes of reaching the final in the afternoon were quickly dashed as the Roadrunner pair overcame the Javelina duo, 8-3, to bring the Blue and Gold representation in doubles play to an end.

The updated bracket of the regional can be found at the following link: 2019 ITA SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL

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

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