CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program had to adjust the setting of its Lone Star Conference matchup against Cameron on Saturday but endured the change and came away with a hard-fought 4-3 win at the HEB Tennis Center.
"Today was a battle," said head coach Autumn Wollenzien. "Both teams fought with their whole hearts and I'm glad we came out as the winners. These are the matches they will remember for a lifetime."
The Javelinas (7-7, 4-3 LSC) ran their league unbeaten streak to four with the decision over the Aggies (7-9, 1-6 LSC) behind the doubles point and a split in singles play.
Freshmen Alessa Maier (Hechingen, Germany) and Raina Zaffar (Guwahati, India) picked up the first victory in doubles play at 6-2 over Alex Lopez and Pilar Jaurena in the second flight. Sophomore Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.) and junior Laura Montalvo (Cochabamba, Bolivia) secured the team point for the Blue and Gold as they won out in the top tandem against Alisa Savina and Karolina Glowinska at 7-5.
TAMUK missed out on the doubles sweep after Melany Opolz and Lea Manga took the 6-4 decision over the newcomer duo of Milou ter Morsche (Goor, Netherlands) and Jana Knaab (Stuttgart, Germany), turning the match over to singles play.
Maier fell in the first singles match to Savina as the Aggie took a straight-set win at 6-1 and 6-2. Lopez added another point to the visitors in the second flight over Montalvo as one of four singles matches that went to three sets. Montalvo took the first set at 6-4 before Lopez added wins in the final two sets at 6-2 and 6-3 for a 2-1 CU advantage.
Donkor posted the first team point for the Javelinas in the top flight as she claimed the first set at 6-3 over Glowinska before her opponent evened the count in the second set at 6-4. Donkor tacked on a 6-4 win in the final set to set the score at 2-2 halfway through singles play.
Zaffar was next to finish as she battled back from a first-set loss to Manga at 6-3 with wins in the second and third set at 6-2 and 6-3, respectively. Jaurena forced the team score to even up yet again with a three-set win in the sixth singles flight over Knaab.
Jaurena took set one at 6-0 ahead of Knaab's 6-3 win in the second set, while the final set went to the Aggie at 6-0.
Ter Morsche and Julianne Garcia took center stage for what became the critical matchup in singles play. The first set went to tiebreaker as the Javelina endured a push from Garcia and claimed a 7-6 win with a 7-5 final in the tiebreaker.
The second set went long as well but ter Morsche persevered yet again as she cemented the team score at 4-3 with a 7-5 final in the set.
TAMUK closes out the dual season next week with two more road matches, first with a rescheduled match against Western New Mexico on April 22 and the season finale against UT Tyler on April 24.
Get the Official Javelina Athletics Mobile App presented by Whataburger today! Download on the App Store or Get It on Google Play to keep up with all the news, scores, and highlights of your favorite Javelinas!
To keep up-to-date with Javelina tennis, follow the program on Facebook at /JavelinaSports or on Twitter @JavelinaTennis
######
