Kingsville - In its first home match of the season, the Texas A&M - Kingsville women's tennis team took down No.23 Dallas Baptist, 4-3.
After inclement weather pushed what should have been the Javelinas' home opener to the HEB Tennis Center in Corpus Christi, they came up with their first top-25 ranked win of the year in a key Lone Star Conference matchup. The win evens up the team's LSC record at 2-2, and improves it to 8-5 overall.
The team has now won seven of its last nine matches, including three of its last four - two of which came over top-40 teams.
The day started with the team taking a split doubles point. Junior
Guadalupe Tocci and senior
Manuela Turolo won 6-2 on the No.1 court and freshmen
Andrea Landaeta and
Annalena Noll lost 2-6 at two before graduate student
Luna Jokanovic and junior
Kaitlin Blount won the tie-breaking match on court three, 6-4.
Tocci grabbed the team's first singles point, winning 6-1, 6-4 on the No.1 court. DBU then responded by getting wins on court three as Noll fell 2-6, 2-6, and court five as Turolo lost 3-6, 1-6. With the score tied at two-two, the Javelinas fought back, forcing three sets on three courts. After losing the first set 2-6, Jokanovic won 6-3, 6-0 to put the Hogs up 3-2. Junior
Annika Andersson Gomez nabbed the match-clinching point on court four with another bigtime comeback for the home team. After dropping set one 2-6, she won the next two, 6-4, 6-1 to get TAMUK the W. Playing on the No.6 court, Landaeta lost 2-6, 6-3, 0-1 (8-10).
The Javelinas will be back on the road next weekend when they face off against Cameron at 1 p.m. on Friday and No.2 Midwestern St. at noon on Saturday.
