RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – With the 2015 spring women’s tennis slate scheduled to begin next month, defending champion Harding will enter as the preseason favorite, following a vote of the league’s head coaches, the conference office announced on Tuesday.
The Lady Bisons closed the fall ranked third in the ITA Central Region poll. Harding placed two - Piper Huey an Ali Bishop in the Central Region’s Top 20 singles rankings. Huey placed sixth and Bishop ended the fall ranked 12th. Huey and Bishop, along with Arielle Butler return from the top six that participated in last year’s championship season.
Arkansas Tech placed second in the poll. The Golden Suns, off an at-large appearance to the NCAA Tournament, return three All-GAC performers from 2014 – Bohdana Sardak, Tamara Bell and Olga Leyshyna. In the ITA Central Region rankings, Leyshyna garnered the No. 14 position and Sardak claimed the 18th spot.
Southern Nazarene, eligible for the GAC Women’s Tennis Championships for the first time, placed third in the poll. Crimson Storm head coach Charlie Hibbard won a GAC Championship at East Central in her final season in Ada, in 2012. Masha Andrianova, the 2014 GAC Player of the Year, placed seventh in the final ITA Central Region Singles Rankings.
East Central took fourth in the poll, followed by Southeastern Oklahoma State. ECU 's Julia Municoy (No. 15) and Southeastern's Sandra Reljic (No. 17) rounded out the GAC representation in top 20 of the ITA’s Central Region rankings. Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist finished out the poll.
The 2015 GAC Championships returns to Bentonville, Ark. for a third-straight year. The top six teams will qualify for the event. The Championships will be contested on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25.
