Orlando, FL - In its first of three straight matchups against a top-40-ranked team, the Texas A&M - Kingsville women's tennis team took down No.38 Emporia St., 5-2.

The win is the Javelinas' sixth in their last seven matches, continuing their momentum heading into their home opener against No.31 UT-Tyler next Thursday.

"Our ladies competed with enthusiasm and energy today," Head Coach Autumn Wollenzien said. "We had a lot of momentum from the win yesterday and it paid off in a great way."


Kingsville entered the match fresh off of a 5-2 win over Lewis in Orlando yesterday. Today, while staying in the sunshine state, the Javelinas made the short trip from the site of that match, the U.S. Tennis Association's National Campus, to the Racquet Club of Cocoa Beach, to compete against one of the nation's best D2 teams. 

TAMUK started the day by winning the split doubles point. Junior Guadalupe Tocci and senior Manuela Turolo won 6-4 on the No.1 singles court, while the freshmen pair of Andrea Landaeta and Annalena Noll grabbed another doubles win, taking down ESU 6-4 on the No.2 court. Junior Kaitlin Blount and graduate student Luna Jokanovic lost 4-6 on the third court.

Kingsville's No.1 and No.2 each got wins to finish their Florida play 3-0 across the two days of competition. At the No.1 spot, Tocci continued her tear or terrific play with a 6-3, 6-0 beatdown. At No.2, Jokanovic crushed her opponent as well, 6-2, 6-2. In the final singles spot, Landaeta helped TAMUK get its clinching fourth point, and completed a 4-0 trip by taking down ESU's No.6, 6-1, 6-1. Junior Annika Andersson Gomez, playing in the No.4 slot, got a hard-fought, three-set win, dropping the first set 1-6 before going 6-3, 6-1 to grab the win. Noll lost 2-6, 3-6 at the No. 3 spot, while Turolo lost at the five spot 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-13. 

The team will play at the Javelina Tennis Courts for the first time this season next Thursday and Saturday when it hosts a pair of ranked opponents, No.31 UT-Tyler on Thursday and No.19 DBU on Saturday.