SAN ANTONIO, TX – The University of the Incarnate Word Women's Tennis team fell at the final hurdle against St. Mary's University on Saturday, losing 4-3 to the visiting Rattlers at the Mabry Tennis Center.

UIW put out a strong singles side, but fell short of claiming the win by just one match.

The visiting Rattlers of St. Mary's University secured their first point of the day after winning two out of three doubles matches. Sarah Savedra (El Paso, TX/ El Paso) and Jennifer Betancourt (Valencia, Venezuela/ La Salle Guaparo) were the only winning duo for the Cardinals after beating their opponents 6-1.

In the singles matches, #3 Andi Botha (Pretoria, South Africa/ Akrikanas) went up against Felicity Delgado, a pair that had previously played each other in the Trinity University Quad. Despite Botha having beaten Delgado in straight sets in their previous contest, the roles reversed after she lost 6-2 and 6-1

The three winning singles for UIW were Betancourt, who beat Jamie Lee Denton 6-3, 7-5, Taryn Stahl (San Antonio, TX/Churchill) who beat Ariana Saldana 6-0, 6-0 and Kelsey Reblin (Round Rock, TX/Round Rock) who beat J Bryant 6-2, 6-4 at #4, #5 and #6 singles.

After Savedra lost to Cristina Lopez after two sets and a tie break, the contest was tied at 3-3 and came down to the final singles game still in play, Ivana Katavic (Split, Croatia /Ekonomsko-Birotehnicka) vs Mariana Rong. Katavic lost her first set 4-6 but came back in the second to win 6-4 and take the game and match into a tie breaker.

After some great play by Katavic she took the lead in the tie break 6-3, but Rong came back strong, forcing errors to take the match with the final result of 10-6 and ending the match 4-3 to St. Mary's.

The Cardinals are back in action next week as they head to Laredo, TX to play Laredo Community College on Friday at 1 p.m.