Tavares joined the program as a graduate assistant coach ahead of the 2016-17 season.
Tavares was named the 2019 ITA South Central Regional Assistant Coach of the Year and ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year thansks to her efforts on the court under the direction of head coach Autumn Williams.
Tavares completed her second season as the Graduate Assistant Coach for the tennis program, helping Williams guide the Blue and Gold to a 4-2 record in Lone Star Conference play, along with a 12-8 overall record for the third winning season in-a-row for the program.
Tavares, originally a top-five tennis athlete out from Florianopolis, Brazil, competed in South America for the ITF and COSSAT leagues and climbed into the top 21 of all competitors on the continent. She competed for Austin Peay, immediately solidified her spot at the fifth flight as a freshman in 2012 and came away with wins over Lipscomb's Samantha Brown in straight sets on Feb. 25.
She added a win over Tennessee State's Kryston Mason in straight sets at the fourth flight, and teamed up with Jovana Karac in the third doubles tandem to clinch three Ohio Valley Conference matches in the process.
Tavares went 12-12 as a sophomore for the Governors in 2013, primarily at the No. 4 singles, and recorded a 12-6 doubles mark with Alison Carre, mostly as the No. 2 duo. Her junior campaign featured a 9-10 singles record at the third position and she went 10-18 her senior year in 2015, adding a 9-5 record in doubles play with Ornella Di Salvo at the top tandem.
Thanks to her efforts, the Javelinas climbed as high as No. 23 in the ITA Division II Women's Rankings following a 4-3 triumph over No. 15 Tarleton on March 29 in league play. That match featured a thrilling comeback from junior Victoria Romanovskaia (Simferopol, Crimea, Russia) in the third set as she battled against Faustine Palatte at the fourth singles flight and flipped a 5-3 deficit into a 7-5 win with four straight points.
TAMUK also bested No. 35 St. Mary's (TX) back on April 17 as a preview for the following season when the Rattlers join the LSC. Romanovskaia came in clutch once again as she broke a 3-3 tie in the team scoring with a comeback against Isabelle Bergman in the fourth pairing by erasing a 5-4 cushion favoring the Rattler for a 7-5 decision in the third set.
Following the season, redshirt senior Lisa Carvajal (McAllen, Texas) and freshman Maya Donkor (McLean, Va.) secured a spot on the All-LSC doubles team with a 3-2 league record after spending most of the regular season in the ITA top 50 rankings and owned the No. 45 spot ahead of the LSC Championship.
Carvajal was also named to the All-LSC singles team with a 9-8 overall record. The junior trio of Romanovskaia, Julia Rauer (Leiselheim, Germany) and Valerie Ruiz (San Antonio, Texas) all garnered spots on the Honorable Mention All-LSC squad, with Rauer owning the best mark at 17-2 on the team the featured a 10-match unbeaten streak from March 9 through April 12.
Rauer followed up with a 13-5 record as she ran her unbeaten streak to 19 matches at the start of the spring campaign dating back to the 2018 dual season. Romanovskaia, meanwhile, compiled a 10-6 overall record as she went 7-3 in her fourth singles flight.
In league play, the trio combined for a 14-3 record, with Ruiz turning in a flawless 5-0 mark, followed by Rauer at 5-1 and Romanovskaia at 4-2.
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