TYLER, TEXAS – The UT Tyler women's tennis program heads out for their first LSC postseason tournament this weekend where they will take on three seeded Angelo State in the first round of the single elimination tournament.
FIRST APPEARANCE
Tomorrow's match will mark the first appearance for UT Tyler in the LSC women's tennis postseason tournament. Last year the Patriots were unable to compete in the postseason championship due to being in the final year of the transition to Division II.
LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK
The Patriots are looking to make waves in the LSC postseason tournament after finishing 4-5 on the season. All four of their wins came as a part of a four match winning streak which is the longest of this season and the longest since the five match win streak that began the 2021 spring season.
Leading the way for UT Tyler in singles will be
Leony Deutschmann. The freshman from Berlin, Germany was recently named to the All-LSC Second Team singles and All-LSC Honorable Mention doubles teams after strong performances in both categories. In singles, Deutschmann finished 5-4 against LSC teams, highlighted by a big three set victory over then 44 ranked Anda Ghinga of Midwestern State.
In doubles, it has been the pair of Deutschmann and
Kanika Sivaraman who have led the way. The pair are 4-2 together and all six of those matches have come in the #1 doubles slot. The pair have been pushed to a tiebreaker just once in LSC play.
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the third all-time meeting between the Patriots and the Rams. Both previous matchups have come within the last two seasons. The Rams lead the series at 2-0 after a 5-2 victory on April 25, 2021, and then a 7-0 victory on April 14 of this season.
In that contest just a few weeks ago, the pair of Deutschmann and Sivaraman won their doubles match. In singles, the Patriots battled extremely closely as three different matches went to a third set.
THE SCOUTING REPORT
Angelo State finished the season at 8-1 in LSC competition and in third place in the standings after losing a tiebreaker to claim the regular season title.
The Rams are led by Dianela Rodriguez in singles, who was named as the LSC Player of the Year and to the All-LSC First Team Singles team. Rodriguez was a perfect 9-0 on the season in LSC play and has won nine of her last 10 matches.
In doubles, the pair of Ena Ovcina and Valentina Gonzalez leads the way. The pair was named to the All-LSC First Team Doubles after going 4-0 against LSC competition. On the year, the pair are 11-3 with all 14 of those matches coming in the #1 doubles slot.
Chris Bizot holds the reigns as the head coach of Angelo State. Bizot took over as head coach of the Rams in 2017 after spending the previous 12 seasons as the head coach of UT Tyler. Most recently, Bizot led Angelo State to a regular season women's championship in the 2021 season.
ON THE HORIZON
The winner of Thursday morning's matchup will move on to face the winner of the match between #2 St. Mary's and #7 DBU on Friday at 9:30 a.m. Saturday will see the winner of both semifinals play for the LSC tournament championship and the conference's automatic bid into the South Central Regional championship.
