SAN ANTONIO – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program ended up on the back end of a 6-1 decision to No. 8 Central Oklahoma on Friday in the first non-conference matchup of the weekend.
"With a young team like ours we have some learning to do," said head coach Autumn Wollenzien. "Any experience is good experience so we will take this as a teachable moment."
The Javelinas (1-3) got their lone team point in singles play from junior Laura Montalvo (Cochabamba, Bolivia), but couldn't slow the eighth-ranked Bronchos (5-1) en route to the loss.
UCO claimed the doubles point after Nikki Boyar and Blythe Buntrock downed the freshmen duo of Milou ter Morsche (Goor, Netherlands) and Jana Knaab (Stuttgart, Germany) in the third flight at 6-0, followed by a 6-2 decision from Mae Canete and Paola Landin in the second tandem over another newcomer pair in Alessa Maier (Hechingen, Germany) and Raina Zaffar (Guwahati, India).
Montalvo was the last Javelina to finish as she went to three sets against Dunlap in the third pairing. The first set went in favor of Montalvo, 6-4, before Dunlap forced the decisive set at 6-3, but a thrilling 13-11 finish in the final round went to Montalvo yet again.
UCO clinched the match after taking wins in the sixth, second and top flights. Boyar downs Knaab in the sixth in consecutive sets, matched by Abidullina in the second pairing over sophomore Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.), while Canete sealed the win in straight sets over Maier as the top matchup.
The final two singles matches both ended in consecutive-set losses by the Javelinas. Landin downed Zaffar in the fourth pairing, while Buntrock took down ter Morsche in the fifth.
The Javelinas return to action tomorrow with another non-conference matchup against Trinity starting at 2 p.m. CT in San Antonio.
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