SAN ANGELO, Texas - The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program took flight on Friday at the ASU Tennis Courts for the first day of the invitational hosted by Angelo State which featured competitors from around the Lone Star Conference.

Freshman Milou ter Morsche (Goor, Netherlands) paced the Javelinas at the invite as she put away three wins total, two from the singles portion followed by another one from the doubles bracket, as the squad took home eight wins total on the day.

"It's really great to be back on the court playing," said head coach Autumn Wollenzien. "We had a good day of matches.

"It's really just about getting back in the groove of playing and learning more each match."

Ter Morsche used identical 6-4, 6-4 straight-set wins in singles play over UT Permian Basin's Sofia Rischmagui and Cameron's Pilar Jaurena to start her day with a 2-0 record. She teams up with senior Stephanie Baerman (San Antonio, Texas) to take down Western New Mexico's Nicole Gonzalez and Juila Terrazas at 8-5 to close her day of play.

Baerman, meanwhile, fell in a hard-fought singles match to DBU's Ira Vogelmann as the Patriot claimed set one at 7-6 (5) before the Javelina responded with a 6-4 win in set two. Set three favored Vogelmann, however, at 10-6 to bring the match to an end.

Other Javelinas in action in singles play included newcomer Alessa Maier (Hechingen, Germany) who split her singles matches. She fell 6-3, 6-2 to DBU's Kate Daugherty but rebounded with a 6-1, 6-1 straight-set win over UT Tyler's Giana Ibrasheva.

Sophomore Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.) came away with a 6-1, 7-6 (1) win over UTPB's Maria Briones in the second singles flight, while her teammate junior Laura Montalvo (Cochabamba, Bolivia) went to the wire with UTT's Chloe Chawner in the same bracket but ultimately fell in three sets at 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.

Freshman Noemi Sante (Düsseldorf, Germany) was another newcomer to split her singles matches over in the third flight as she fell 6-2, 6-3 to the Rambelles' Virginie Becht, but battled back for a three-set win over the Falcons' Krystal Smith at 7-6 (6), 2-6, 10-6.

Over in doubles play, Donkor and Maier teamed up to take down UTT's Chawner and Eva Riekenbrauck at 8-3 in the first bracket.

Over in the second bracket, Montalvo and Sante moved past their first-round opponent of Jaurena and Melany Opolz from CU and finished with an 8-4 decision but fell in their second matchup to WNMU's Julia Tozzi and Kajsa Gedlitschska at 8-7 (5).

Day two will begin on Saturday, October 17, over at the ASU Tennis Courts with singles play beginning at 8 a.m. CT.

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

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