ARLINGTON, TEXAS – UT Tyler women's tennis is moving on to the semifinals of the LSC postseason tournament after a wild comeback victory over #3 Angelo State in their opening round match in Arlington, Texas.
 
The Patriots went down by a score of 3-0 before winning four consecutive singles matches to claim victory over the Rams.
 
The dual match started with doubles, and Angelo State took a quick lead over the Patriots after a 6-1 victory over the pair of Brooklyn Ross and Chloe Dix. That put the Patriots on the edge of the doubles point, but Leony Deutschmann and Kanika Sivaraman got the team going with a dominant 6-3 win over All-LSC First Team Doubles selections Valentina Gonzalez Ramirez and Ena Ovcina.
 
That win put the doubles point in the hands of match number three. Chloe Chawner and Tanvikhaa Saravanan took on Esther Bowers and Eva Schwartz. The pair of Bowers and Schwartz were down 4-3 at one point to the Patriots, but climbed out of the hole with three straight game victories to claim a 6-4 win and the doubles point for the Rams.
 
That moved the match over to singles, where #3 seeded Angelo State looked to continue their momentum. They claimed their second point of the day with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Ross in the #2 singles slot.
 
The Rams third point of the match came in the #3 singles slot as Ena Ovcina took down Kanika Sivaraman by scores of 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. However, that match signaled a changing of the tide as it was the first of four total matches that the Patriots forced into a third set.
 
Chloe Chawner stepped up as the Patriots were on the brink of elimination. After dropping the first set 6-3, she responded with a dominant second set, winning four straight games after being tied 2-2 to even the match. In the third and decisive set, Chawner continued to battle as the match was tied 4-4 through eight games. The senior from England came up clutch, winning the last two games and claiming the first point of the day for UT Tyler.
 
With the Patriots on the board, Dnyanada Patil continued the momentum with a thrilling three set victory of her own. After dropping the first set 6-2, Patil came right back in the second set by winning the final three games after being tied 3-3 to even the set count at 1-1. In the third set, it was Ayda Guler of the Rams who took the lead at 4-3 through the first seven games. That is where Patil dug deep herself, coming up with three straight game wins to claim the second point for UT Tyler.
 
Saravanan was next up for UT Tyler as she forced a third set in the #4 singles slot. After dropping the first set in a tight 6-4 battle, Saravanan responded with a huge 6-2 set victory that saw her win four of the first five games to run out to a 4-1 lead that she would not relinquish. In the third and decisive set, she kept the momentum on full speed as she won four of the last five games to collect another 6-2 set win and put the third point on the board for the Patriots.
 
With the score tied in a wild turn of events for UT Tyler, attention turned to Deutschmann and Rodriguez in the #1 singles match. The pair were locked in an extremely tight battle throughout the first set. It was Rodriguez who seized the early advantage in the contest, jumping out to a two game lead at 4-2. However, Deutschmann made her move and won five out of the next six games to claim a monumental 7-5 set win.
 
With the Rams officially on the brink of elimination, Deutschmann went right back to work trying to close out #3 Angelo State. Rodriguez jumped out ahead again at 2-1, but both ladies exchanged games up to a 4-4 tie. Deutschmann grabbed her first lead of the second set at 5-4, but Rodriguez battled to win two consecutive games and take a 6-5 advantage. The freshman from Germany was undeterred, and promptly tied the match to force a tiebreaker.
 
In the tiebreaker, Deutschmann took the early two point lead at 4-2 in the race to seven. Rodriguez was stingy and battled again to even the match at 4-4, but it was Deutschmann who won three straight points to claim a 7-4 tiebreaker win and move UT Tyler to the semifinals.
 
The Patriots will now move on to battle it out against #2 seeded St. Mary's in the LSC tournament semifinals. That match will take place tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. at the Arlington Tennis Center in Arlington, Texas.