SAN ANTONIO – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's tennis team was defeated, 4-3, by the St. Mary's (StMU) Rattlers in a non-conference match Thursday at the Rohrbach Stadium Tennis Complex in San Antonio.
The Rattlers picked up a 6-1 doubles win in the third flight to start the match, but the Vaqueros quickly evened up the session with a 6-1 win on Court One from sophomore
Rhea Makesar and freshman
Mariia Bakhtina. The doubles point came down to the second flight, where UTRGV's sophomore duo of
Madeleine Joffe and
Hitakamya Narwal held a 5-1 lead before the St. Mary's duo fought back to 5-3. The Vaqueros (1-1) locked in to secure the 1-0 match advantage with a 6-3 win in the bout.
The singles session was tight as UTRGV picked up three first-set wins on the second, third and sixth courts and St. Mary's stayed close with wins on the others. Makesar extended UTRGV's lead to 2-0 with a brisk 6-0, 6-2 win in the second flight.
St. Mary's came storming back to claim a 3-2 lead.
Selina Wu, the 49
th ranked NCAA Div. II singles player, got the Rattlers on the board with a 6-3, 6-2 win in the top flight. Wins followed on the fourth and fifth courts to give the edge to St. Mary's, but the Vaqueros kept fighting.
Joffe was locked in a three-set battle on the third court and jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the deciding frame to keep UTRGV alive. On the sixth court, Bakhtina delayed the clinch despite falling behind, 5-1, in the third set, but StMU's
Stela Sifuentes finished it off to claim the win for the home team.
StMU's
Janel Ospanova fought back to take a 5-4 lead in the third set of the No. 3 match, but Joffe responded. She dominated with her serve to tie, then held strong against the serve to get back in control. The competitive match went to a tiebreaker to be decided, and the netters continued to go back-and-forth. Joffe closed strong to take the tiebreaker, 7:5, and win the match.
The Vaqueros return to the Orville Cox Tennis Center to host Prairie View A&M on Sunday at 10 a.m. as part of a doubleheader with the men's teams from both schools which is scheduled for 1 p.m. Admission is free and the community is encouraged to attend.
Results
Doubles (3, 1, 2)
1.
Rhea Makesar/
Mariia Bakhtina (UTRGV) def. Janel Ospanova/Stela Sifuentes (StMU) 6-1
2.
Madeleine Joffe/
Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV) def. Selina Wu/Gia Posito (StMU) 6-3
3. Alessia Terlizzi/Paula Garrote (StMU) def.
Valentina Urraco/
Kristal Dule (UTRGV) 6-1
Singles (2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 3)
1. Selina Wu (StMU) def.
Kristal Dule (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-2
2.
Rhea Makesar (UTRGV) def. Alessia Terlizzi (StMU) 6-0, 6-2
3.
Madeleine Joffe (UTRGV) def. Janel Ospanova (StMU) 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (7:5)
4. Paula Garrote (StMU) def.
Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV) 7-6 (7:3), 6-0
5. Gia Posito (StMU) def.
Valentina Urraco (UTRGV) 6-2, 6-4
6. Stela Sifuentes (StMU) def.
Mariia Bakhtina (UTRGV) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
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