KINGSVILLE, Texas – The first rounds of action at the Javelina Quad took place over the course of the day as the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis program picked up several wins at the Javelina Tennis Courts against three Division I opponents and a Lone Star Conference foe.
Sophomore
Jana Knaab (Stuttgart, Germany) moved past Valerie Navarro in her first matchup of the day. Knaab clinched the first set 7-5 before her foe bowed out of competition in the second set.
The follow-up match pitted the Javelina against Annete Lira from Prairie View A&M and Knaab turned in a convincing 6-1, 6-0, straight-set victory over the Panther to move on to the championship round.
Newcomer
Manuela Turolo (Cividale del Friuli, Italy) added another straight-set win over a Division I foe as she bested Alejandra Landaluca from Incarnate Word, 6-4 and 6-2, to face another upper-division opponent in Ana Platisa from UTRGV.
The Vaquero took the first set, 6-2, before Turolo battled back in the second set at 6-3. Platisa won out in the super-tiebreaker, however, with a 10-6 final.
Sophomore
Raina Zaffar (Guwahati, India) also took on a member of the PVAMU women's tennis program in the same bracket as Turolo with a matchup against Salma Sanchez. Sanchez moved past Zaffar in consecutive sets, 6-1 and 6-4.
Classmate
Alessa Maier (Hechingen, Germany) took down Lauren Fulgenzi from UIW in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-2, and faced UTRGV's Lea Karren in her second match of the day.
Maier took the first set at 6-4 before Karren grabbed set two at 6-1 and the super-tiebreaker at 10-8.
Fellow second-year Javelina
Milou ter Morsche (Goor, Netherlands) bested Jada Hill from PVAMU in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-3, but fell to StMU's Maria Garcia in the second round at 6-0 and 6-0.
Both sophomore
Noemi Sante (Düsseldorf, Germany) and junior
Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.) took their rounds in the final bracket. Sante fell in a hard-fought matchup to the Panthers' Victoria Castillo at 7-6 (6) and 6-3, before the Rattlers' Marina Vigil took the second matchup at 6-2 and 6-4.
Donkor, meanwhile, fell by a count of 6-3 and 7-6 (3) to Gabrielle Leslie from Prairie View A&M and was downed by UTRGV's Majorie Souza in the second round at 6-4 and 6-4.
Knaab was paired off with Landaluce in doubles play as the tandem defeated Parkinson and Salcedo by a score of 6-4. Turolo and ter Morsche were in the same bracket as the duo fell 6-1 to Navarro and Elena Munoz.
Maier and Zaffar dropped a 6-0 decision to Gabi Ioannou and Alice Thane from StMU, while Sante and Donkor took Karren and Souza to a seventh point in their doubles matchup before the Vaquero pair came away with a 7-5 final.
The second day of play at the Javelina Quad begins at 9 a.m. at the Javelina Tennis Courts on Saturday, September 18.
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