It was a day of firsts at the Lone Star Conference Tennis Championships on Saturday in Arlington, Texas, as St. Mary’s claimed its first women’s tournament title and UT Tyler earned its first

    The Rattlers posted a thrilling 4-2 win over top-seeded Cameron in the women’s final, with StMU taking an early 3-0 lead before the Aggies pulled back a pair of matches to turn up the pressure.

    The tournament’s No. 2 seed took the early advantage after a pair of hard-fought doubles victories sealed the point for the Rattlers. StMU also got quick points at No. 5 and 6 singles, where Gabi Ioannou and Alice Thane earned straight-set victories.

    CU earned straight-set victories the other way at court one and court four, with Vasilisa Polunova and Kateryna Rudenko applying the pressure for the Aggies.

    After splitting the first two sets, StMU’s Angela Vargas and CU’s Anastasia Uspenskaia headed to a decisive third set between the LSC Newcomer and LSC Freshman of the Year. In the end, it was Vargas who took control, earning a 6-1 victory in the set that clinched the match and the title for the Rattlers. The junior was named the tournament’s most valuable player for her performance.

    In the men’s championship match, second-seeded UTT turned the tables on top-seeded Midwestern State as the Patriots claimed the 4-2 win. In a reverse of the regular-season meeting between the two programs, UTT jumped out to the early lead picking up the doubles point with decisive wins on courts two and three to grab the 1-0 advantage.

    The Patriots quickly moved their lead to 3-0 with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, led by an impressive 6-1, 6-0 straight-set victory by tournament MVP Joaquin Bianchi.

    MSU held off UTT with wins at No. 6 singles from Stefan Andrei and No. 1 singles from Alex Martinez Roca.

    The match hinged on a pair of matches at No. 3 and 4 singles that went into a third set. Safar Rasulov closed the door on MSU’s comeback bid with a commanding win in set three of the No. 4 match to claim the 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

    Both StMU and UTT earned the league’s automatic bids to the NCAA Division II Championship, with the selection show airing Tuesday, May 3, at 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.