KALAMAZOO, MI (05.24.19) - The 2018-19 academic year for the UT Dallas athletic programs official came to a close Friday as the Comets top women's doubles squad of Kathy Joseph and Sindhu Ravula played in the NCAA Division III National Doubles Championship, hosted by Kalamazoo College.

Joseph, a junior from Willitson, Vt., and Ravula, a junior from Allen, became the first-ever UTD men's or women's doubles tandem to qualify for the NCAA D-III Individual Championship after leading the Comets to their second-ever American Southwest Conference championship. The two-some also sparked the program to its first-ever victory in the NCAA D-III National Championship earlier this month, a 5-4 upset of No. 29-ranked Linfield in the first round.

The UTD duo drew the No. 2-seeded team in the doubles field as Joseph and Ravula were forced to square off with Middlebury's Heather Boehm and AnnMartin Skelly. Boehm also qualified for the national singles tournament while Middlebury finished the spring in the national semifinals earlier this week. The Comets' top squad would fall to Boehm/Skelly in straight set, 6-1 and 6-4, suffering just the duo's second loss of the season. Joseph and Ravula closed the spring with a 13-2 record, the most-ever wins by a duo in program history. The previous mark of 12 wins was set by Rachel Houston and Casey Johnson in 2013, the last time the Comets won the ASC title and advanced to the national tournament.

Johnson is the only UTD tennis player ever to qualify as an for the singles national championship, chosen as a participant in 2013, 2014 and 2015. After missing the 2013 event due to injury, she was handed opening-round losses in 2014 and 2015.

The Comet women finished this spring with a 12-2 overall record and dominated the ASC's West Division with a perfect 6-0 mark. UTD won all six divisional matches by the score of 9-0. The current two-time defensive ASC West champion Comets will enter the 2020 season riding a 16-match divisional winning streak.