RICHARDSON, TX (05.14.21) - The UT Dallas women's tennis team had its season abruptly come to an end Friday afternoon with a 5-4 loss to Washington-St. Louis in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis National Championship.

The regional host Comets (12-4) received a first-round bye in the tournament and served as the No. 3 seed in the five-team single-elimination event. WashU (now 9-3) is the tournaments No. 2 seed and will face top-seeded Southwestern at 12:30 p.m. in the regional final.

The Comets got off to a strong start in the dual, picking up 2-of-3 doubles decisions to take a early 2-1 lead. Every singles match had to count in the race to five, however, with three of the six contests going to a decisive third set before the Bears finished the come-from-behind victory.

WashU opened doubles with a lop-sided 8-1 win at No. 3 before the Comets rolled to wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Top-flighted tandem of Kathy Joseph and Samantha Wong, who have already been tapped as individual qualifiers for the NCAA D-III National Championships later this month, handled Ally Persky/Karen Gao, 8-3, to even the match, 1-1. Saumya Vedula and Rebecca Jackson then gave the Comets a 2-1 lead with an 8-4 win over WashU's Laurel Wanger/Katherine Johnson.

The Bears would knot the duel with the first singles decision of the afternoon as Sophia Huynh, fresh from not playing doubles, downed Jackson in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 5. Kathy Joseph, who was also picked to the national singles tournament later this month, responded with a straight-set win of her own, 6-3, 7-5, at No. 1 over Persky to give the Comets back the lead, 3-2.

Wanger earned the first three-set victory of singles action at No. 4 with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-1, win over Suzuka Nishino to again tie the match for the Bears before Vedula battled for a straight-set win over Divya Sharma, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, at No. 3 to draw the Comets within a single decision for a postseason win.

The Bears then used two marathon, three-set wins to complete the comeback and advance to Friday's regional final. Hannah Johnston edged Stephanie Joseph, 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), at No. 6, and Karen Gao closed the duel with a 6-3, 6-7 (1-6), 6-3, win over Wong at No. 2.

The Comets were making just their third-ever appearance into the national tournament this spring.