SAN ANTONIO —
Mariana Rong has won her fifth Heartland Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week award after leading St. Mary's to a historic week last week.
On the heels of moving up to No. 28 in the country for their highest-ever national ranking, the Rattlers earned just their second-ever win over No. 31 St. Edward's since moving to NCAA Division II. Rong had her fingerprints all over the win, winning her singles and doubles matches as part of a week where she went 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles.
With the wins, Rong (So., Jinan, China), a graduate of O'Connor High School, improved to 16-0 in singles play this spring. She has now won five of the nine Heartland Player of the Week awards doled out this season.
The Rattlers will be back in action Friday, when they take part in the Cameron University Quad in Lawton, Okla.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
