KINGSVILLE, Texas – For the final time during the 2022 regular season, the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's tennis is hitting the road and during this road swing, they'll visit two Lone Star Conference rivals, starting on Friday, when they'll invade the territory of the No. 6 Cameron Aggies for a match scheduled to start at 12 p.m. in Lawton, Okla., then they'll spend Saturday squaring off with the Arkansas-Fort Smith in Lions in a match set to begin at 2 p.m.
The last time coach Autumn Wollenzien's Javelinas were on the court, they put on one of their most impressive performances of the season against then-No. 45 DBU. This victory started with a phenomenal effort from the Blue and Gold in doubles, where they dropped the third flight but battled back to win the match's first point by claiming the No. 1 and No. 2 contests. The Javs are 5-1 so far in 2022 when they get on the scoreboard first.
The Javelinas then dominated the action in singles play to claim a 6-1 win. Sophomore Alessa Maier (Hechingen, Germany), who just moved up to No. 56 in the ITA singles rankings, cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 conquest in the No. 1 flight, pushing her win streak to eight-in-a-row. That triumph was also Maier's 10th of the year, a number matched by fellow sophomore Milou ter Morsche (Goor, Netherlands), who has now reached double figures in that statistic in consecutive seasons.
In her last eight singles matches, ter Morsche has lost just once and six of those victories have come in straight sets. She also owns a career record of 12-1 in LSC play.
Sophomore Noemi Sante (Dusseldorf, Germany) collected a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 win on Friday against Midwestern State, followed by a 6-3, 6-4 decision in her favor against DBU. Those performances pushed her record above .500 for the season and her come-from behind effort against the Mustangs marked the third time in her sophomore season she's dropped the first set in singles match, then come back to win.
The two opponents on the fight card for the Javs have had very different seasons to this point. One year after posting a 3-6 mark in conference competition, the Aggies have won their first three LSC matches while also reeling off 10-in-a-row for an overall mark of 11-1. On the other end of the spectrum are the Lions, who are trying to snap out of a seven-match skid while also looking to claim their first conference triumph.
Part of the reason for CU's success has been a string of seven straight contests in which they've topped their opponent in doubles play and they also have three players who've reached 10 wins in singles competition. The best record on the Aggie roster belongs to freshman Anastasia Uspenskaia, who is 13-2 and hasn't lost since February.
The Lions' most successful player so far in 2022 is sophomore Camila Romero, who's collected a team-high four wins. Romero has won twice in her team's last three matches, triumphing in straight sets over opponents from Harding and UT Tyler.
Be sure check Javelinaathletics.com for a recap of each match at the end of the day on Friday and Saturday. To keep up with Javelina tennis throughout the season, follow @JavelinaTennis on Twitter and Instagram, like the Javelina Sports Facebook page, subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube channel and visit Javelinaathletics.com.
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