The first player in program history to be named first team All-Southland Conference four times, Villarreal was dominant on the No. 1 court in singles and doubles play. In singles play, she was 18-3 overall and 10-1 in league play, while teaming with sophomore Dalina Dahlmans for a 17-2 mark (9-1 Southland) in doubles action. She finished her remarkable Lion career with a 73-9 singles record – good for fourth on the program's all-time singles victories list.
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The president of the Southeastern Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Villarreal became the third Lion tennis student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors. At the university's spring commencement honors in May, Villarreal, who graduated with a 4.0 grade point average in finance, received the President's Medal for Academic Excellence.
On the competition field, she was named the Player of the Year by both the Southland Conference and the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, earning first team All-Southland Conference and All-Louisiana honors. Villarreal was also an excellent performer in the classroom, being named CoSIDA Academic All-America, CoSIDA Academic All-District 6 and the Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year for her respective sport.
Villarreal, who hails from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, is the first student-athlete to be named Southeastern Female Athlete of the Year three times, after previously winning the award in 2014-15 and sharing the honor with soccer's Hope Sabadash in 2013-14. Villarreal joins previous women's tennis Athlete of the Year honorees Renata Smekalova (1992-93, 1993-94), Simona Nedorostova (1997-98), Iva Velkovska (2005-06) and Emilija Arnaudovska (2006-07, 2007-08). Smekalova and Arnaudovska are Southeastern Athletics Hall of Famers.
