By: Ricky Baptist, Sports Information Director
TYLER, Texas (April 26, 2025) – The University of Texas Permian Basin women's tennis team opened up the final weekend of the season with a 5-2 defeat against a top-25 team in NCAA Division II, No. 25 nationally-ranked The University of Texas at Tyler, on Saturday at the Summers Tennis Center.
UTPB took a 1-0 lead with a 7-6 (7-4) tiebreak win by
Tuva Asplund and
Teodora Vrucan over Kanika Sivaraman and Paula Castellanos at No. 3 doubles and a 6-4 upset win from
Brooke Runyan and
Paige Bott over No. 17 nationally-ranked Yona Bancarel and Natalia Gorzny at No. 1 doubles.
The Falcons have earned the doubles point in six of their nine Lone Star Conference matches so far this season.
Unfortunately, the Falcons lost four singles matches in straight sets, and in the two singles matches where UTPB won the first set, the Falcons went 1-1 in a pair of three-set matches.
Dinethya Dharmaratne defeated Sivaraman 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 6 singles, but Vrucan came up short, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in a comeback by Carla Rodier at No. 3 singles.
At No. 1 and No. 2 singles, Runyan and
Rhea Singh both fell against nationally-ranked opponents.
Results:
Doubles
Singles
- #1 – No. 40 Yona Bancarel (UT Tyler) def. Brooke Runyan (UTPB) 6-2, 6-3
- #2 – No. 55 Natalia Gorzny (UT Tyler) def. Rhea Singh (UTPB) 6-1, 7-5
- #3 – Carla Rodier (UT Tyler) def. Teodora Vrucan (UTPB) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
- #4 – Paula Castellanos (UT Tyler) def. Paige Bott (UTPB) 6-1, 6-4
- #5 – Allison Schwartz (UT Tyler) def. Fanny Bergstrom (UTPB) 6-2, 6-2
- #6 – Dinethya Dharmaratne (UTPB) def. Kanika Sivaraman (UT Tyler) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
Team Records:
- UTPB falls to .500 overall (8-8) and drops to 3-6 in the LSC while UT Tyler improves to 16-8 and 7-2.
Next Up: UTPB will close out the regular season at No. 34 Dallas Baptist University starting at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 27, on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
