| Senior Nathalie Wallin's victory at No. 2 singles clinched UTSA's semifinals win on Saturday. |
CORPUS CHRISTI ? The UTSA women's tennis team outlasted Lamar, 4-3, in a five-hour thriller on Saturday in the semifinal round of the Southland Conference Tournament held at the HEB Tennis Center.
UTSA improved to 16-7 on the season and will face top-seed UT Arlington at 3 p.m. on Sunday in the SLC Tournament Championship Match, marking the program’s first appearance in the final since 2003. Lamar, the defending tournament champion, concluded its season with a 17-6 record.
In a match that lasted five hours and two minutes, it was senior Nathalie Wallin who finished off the match with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) win over Maria Gutierrez at No. 2 singles.
“We've prepared all year for this, so we were ready to be in this position,” head coach Erin Boisclair said. “The girls left everything out there on the courts. They weren’t thinking about how long they were out there. They just focused on getting the job done. It was a long match, but we’ll be ready to go give it our all again tomorrow."
Lamar claimed the doubles point to grab an early 1-0 advantage.
At No. 1, Mariaryeni Gutierrez and Gutierrez defeated senior Karen Scida and freshman Miceala Silva, 8-2. The Roadrunners responded at the No. 3 position as the first team All-SLC doubles team of Wallin and junior Holly Phillips defeated Carla Nava and Manami Kuroda, 8-3, to lengthen their winning streak to 12.
However, Lamar snagged the point with victory at the No. 2 spot as Manijee Ashrafi and Salina Aranda edged senior Monika Drabkova and sophomore Caroline Dedering, 8-5.
The Runners had to win four of the six singles matches to claim an overall victory and a spot in the championships, and that is exactly what they did.
Drabkova got things going with a win at the No. 4 spot over Manijee Ashrafi in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. Phillips, a first-team all-conference performer, kept the momentum going by claiming a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Nava at No. 3.
The Cardinals evened the score with a victory at No. 1 as Mariaryeni Gutierrez defeated Scida, 6-1, 6-4. Lamar regained the lead, 3-2, as Kuroda claimed a narrow 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) win over Dedering at No. 5. Silva then took care of Aranda at No. 6, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.
That put the pressure on Wallin, who sealed the deal with the third-set tiebreak win.
"I am really proud of our team, but both teams showed a lot of heart today," Boisclair said. "Lamar is a great team, and we always compete well against them. I'm just happy today that we came away with the win."