GEORGETOWN, Texas — The No. 16-ranked Southwestern women's tennis team earned a doubles point against the NCAA Division II St. Mary's Rattlers but lost 8-1. 

"Playing matches outside of Division III doesn't impact our ranking, so it's a bit different not having as much at stake," Southwestern head tennis coach Billy Porter says. "However, the speed of play, the shot tolerance requirement, and competitiveness are all physical aspects to help prepare us for our conference tournament. We purposely scheduled this match so late in the season as part of our final preparation for postseason play." 

Nina Mitrofanova and Lydia Lee pulled out a tough match against Angela Vargas and Bailey Godwin at No. 1 doubles, taking the tiebreaker to win 8-7. 

St. Mary's recovered to take the next two doubles matches. Ashley Penshorn and Alice Thane won a competitive 8-5 match against Southwestern's Alli Ziehm and Emma Kesterson, and Marina Vigil and Gabi Ioannou defeated Lauren Chisholm and Taylor Despriet 8-4. 

"Nina and Lydia played pretty good doubles overall," Southwestern head tennis coach Billy Porter says. "They stepped it up in the tiebreaker to get the win." 

Mitrofanova was sidelined for singles, moving everyone else up a spot in the lineup. Despriet lost 6-3, 6-3 to Penshorn at the No. 1 spot, and Kesterson was defeated 6-1, 6-1 by Vargas at No. 2. Sydney Wahl lost 6-2, 6-1 to Maria Garcia at No. 3 singles, then Vigil defeated Chisholm 6-2, 6-1. Lee lost to Elena Munoz 6-1, 7-6 at No. 5, and Ziehm lost to Thane 6-4, 6-4. 

"With Nina out of singles, everyone had to slide up a spot, and I felt we handled it quite well with our depth," Porter says. "We competed well as we always do, and I like how everyone stepped up." 

Southwestern drops to 12-4. The Pirates will host Concordia on Wednesday, then Sul Ross State on Friday, with several members also competing in The Ojai.