SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's women's tennis team will try to keep its history-making season going in Wichita Falls, Texas.
That is the site of the Rattlers' next opponent, as St. Mary's will take on Midwestern State in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional at 2 p.m. Saturday for the right to advance to the round of 16.
Having earned the automatic qualifier by virtue of winning the Heartland Conference Tournament last weekend, St. Mary's (18-4) earned the No. 3 seed in the field for its first-ever appearance in the regional tournament. Midwestern State (16-6), the No. 2 seed, will host the South Central Regional #2, with the other half of the South Central Region bracket being hosted by top-seeded Abilene Christian in Abilene, Texas.
The winner of the two brackets will advance to the round of 16 in Surprise, Ariz.
Fresh off of winning the Heartland for the first time, St. Mary's must quickly reset for an all-too-familiar opponent. MSU dealt the Rattlers a 7-2 defeat on Feb. 16, handing St. Mary's its first loss of the season.
But in a way, the Rattlers might owe Midwestern State a favor for that defeat. The gut-wrenching loss toughened the new-look squad, spurring what has become an unprecedented run of success for St. Mary's Tennis.
Since snapping a three-game skid that started with the los to MSU, the Rattlers have gone 15-1, winning seven straight including a monumental 5-2 victory over St. Edward's in the Heartland Conference Tournament finals.
St. Mary's 18 wins are a program record, and the honors have begun to pour in as a result. The Rattlers claimed the Heartland Conference's Player of the Year (
Mariana Rong), Coach of the Year (
Lisa Dausin) and Freshman of the Year (
Cristina Lopez) honors, with Rong posting a rather unbelievable 20-0 record in singles this spring.
No 4-seed Tarleton State and No. 5 Western New Mexico will compete on the first day of the other half of the South Central Regional, with the winner advancing to take on ACU, which enjoys a first-round bye as the region's top seed.
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.
