THE LEAD
The DBU Women's Tennis Team traveled to Kingsville, TX to compete in a two-day tournament that started with a 7 to 2 DBU team win over Texas A&M Kingsville. The Lady Patriots are off to a strong start to their spring season.
 
In singles action, Liz Slaughter, Ana Banic, Mikayla Rinker and Skylar McDonald put TAMKU away in two sets.
 
The Lady Patriots got off to a stellar start by taking all three of doubles matches. The tandems of Banic and Sprinkel, Slaughter and Rinker, and Tijerina and McDonald were instrumental in helping to earn todays victory.
 
RESULTS
DBU 7, TAMUK 2
 
SINGLES
#1 L. Carvajal (TAMUK) def. Lacey Sprinkel (DBU) 4-6, 2-6
#2 Ana Banic (DBU) def. V. Romanovskaia (TAMUK) 6-3, 6-1
#3 Mikayla Rinker (DBU) def. V. Ruiz (TAMUK) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
#4 Liz Slaughter (DBU) def. V. Ortiz (TAMUK) 6-1, 6-1
#5 Skylar McDonald (DBU) def. J. Rauer (TAMUK) 6-3, 6-2
#6 E. Larrea (TAMUK) def. Bianca Tijerina (DBU) 3-6, 6-1, (7-10)
 
DOUBLES
#1 Ana Banic/Lacey Sprinkel (DBU) def. V. Ruiz/ V. Romanovskaia (TAMUK) 8-5
 #2 Liz Slaughter/Mikayla Rinker (DBU) def. J. Rauer/E. Larrea (TAMUK) 8-3
#3 Bianca Tijerina/Skylar McDonald (DBU) def. E. Larrea/L. Carvajal (TAMUK) 8-1
 
 
COACH SARAH GRAY ON A STRONG TEAM WIN
"The team came out focused and ready to play and all 6 ladies played excellent doubles to put us up 3-0. We were playing on new courts which played slower so it was about an hour and a half later before we secured our next point from junior Liz Slaughter at #4. Senior Ana Banic clinched the match with her two-set victory at #2 singles. We still had 4 competitive matches on court at this point and junior Bianca Tijerina dropped a close match in a tiebreaker for the third set. Freshman Skylar McDonald had a battle of a match at #5 singles and came out victorious. Senior Lacey Sprinkel dropped a tough match against a strong #1 candidate and finally freshman Mikayla Rinker gave us or final point when she won a tiebreaker in lieu of a third set. 
Leah and I couldn't be more pleased with today's level of play and focus from the team. All of them came in with a sharp mindset and played at a high level to defeat a much improved TAMU-Kingsville. Tomorrow we face another regional opponent and need to come out with that same level of fight and grit again."
 
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Patriots are back in action tomorrow at 9 AM in Kingsville, TX to face-off against Texas – Permian Basin.