ARLINGTON, TEXAS – UT Tyler women's tennis earned their second consecutive LSC Tournament runner-up finish on Saturday after falling to Midwestern State 4-2.
Yona Bancarel and
Paula Castellanos were named to the Lone Star Conference All-Tournament team for their efforts over the weekend.
The two teams opened play with a spirited doubles battle. The Mustangs opened with a 6-1 win, but the Patriots came roaring back with a 6-3 win in the #1 line behind
Yona Bancarel and
Natalia Gorzny.
That set up the third line to be the decider, and the teams battled back and forth to a 3-3 tie. Each team traded blows to get out in front by a game, but again tied it back up at 6-6 to set up a tiebreaker. In that tiebreaker the Mustangs started up 3-0, but the Patriots took a 6-5 lead to comeback. The Mustangs however would take the next three points and take a slim 8-6 tiebreaker win to lead 1-0 in the team match.
The #2 seed Mustangs would double their lead in the #2 line of singles, but
Claudia Di Leonardo would get the Patriots on the board with a blistering 6-2, 6-2 win in the #6 line to make it 2-1.
Paula Castellanos continued her big tournament in the #5 line, taking her own straight sets win of 6-3, 6-4 to even the match right back up at 2-2.
The Mustangs however had the answer yet again, this time taking the #3 line and putting themselves just one point away from match point.
The final match came down to the #4 line, where
Carla Rodier took a 6-0 win to open the match. Alessia Dolce would battle back with a 6-3 win, forcing a third set. That third set would be a war, with Rodier taking a 3-1 lead. Dolce again had a big answer, this time going on a roll to take the set 6-3 and the win for the team.
UT Tyler will now set their sights on the NCAA South Central Regional, where they will make their NCAA Division II Tournament debut. Announcements for the NCAA Tournament will take place via selection show on NCAA.com on May 4
th at 7:30 p.m. central time.
