LAWTON – For the first time since 2016, the Cameron women's tennis team is set to host a NCAA Division II South Central Regional match as they host Angelo State on Saturday for a chance to advance to the National Tournament.
The ninth ranked Aggies enter the NCAA postseason as the two seed in the South Central Region, earning a chance to host their match against the No. 22 ranked Rambelles. The winner of the match, which is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start at the Streich-Henry Tennix Complex on the campus of Cameron University, will advance to the finals in Altamonte Springs, Fla., May 17-21.
Cameron's women, led by LSC Coach of the Year
Josh Cobble, have now made 19 appearances in the NCAA postseason. The last time they made it was in 2018 and the last time they hosted and won the regional was in 2016.
Both teams earned a share of the LSC regular season title this spring by putting together 8-1 league records. Cameron, who was the No. 1 seed in the previous region rankings, entered the LSC Championship tournament as the top seed but fell in the final to the 2-seed St. Mary's 4-2. ASU was bounced in the first round of the tournament by UT Tyler after leading 3-0.
Since the start of their program in 2018, the Belles have not lossed to Cameron and have a 4-0 record. The includes their match earlier this spring where they won 5-2 at the S.H.T.C. In that meeting, ASU took an early lead by winning at two and three doubles and then got wins at six and three to take a 3-0 lead. CU rallied with wins from
Anastasia Uspenskaia at two and
Magda Wawrowska at five, but ASU won the final two matches to earn the win.
The two teams match up well as CU has three players ranked in singles by the ITA (No. 41
Vasilisa Polunova, No. 49
Lea Manga, and No. 58 Uspenskaia) and have Uspenskaia and Wawrowska ranked No. 10 in doubles. ASU has Daniella Rodriguez ranked No. 13 in singles and the duo of Valentina Gonzalez and Ana Ovcina ranked No. 42 by the ITA.
Cameron's lineup will be like it has been the whole back half of the season with Uspenskaia and Wawrowska at one doubles, Polunova and
Karolina Glowinska at two, and Manga and
Kateryna Rudenko at three. In singles, it will be Polunova, Uspenskaia, Manga, Rudenko, Wawrowska, and then
Pilar Jaurena at six.
Saturday's match is free of charge and will start at approximately 1 p.m. The Streich-Henry Tennis Complex is located on the west side of campus directly west of the Shepler towers. For fans who can't make it out, the match will be scored via the ION Court app and the link is located on cameronaggies.com.
