RESULTS || BENTONVILLE, Ark. – East Central won its second Great American Conference Women’s Tennis Championship in the last three seasons as the Tigers outlasted Southern Nazarene, 5-3, on Saturday afternoon from Memorial Park.
The Tigers clinched the match at the No. 1 singles position. Julia Municoy recovered from dropping the first set to Masha Andrianova, the GAC Player of the year, 2-6, to win the final two sets 6-3, 6-1.
East Central had built a 4-1 advantage early in the singles portion of the contest. Veronica Mijares delivered a 6-0, 6-0 win against Taylor Sullivan at the No. 6 position. Shortly after Mijares won, Srijita Ghosh defeated Kaitlyn Atkeson, 6-0, 6-1.
Karina Kotova and Natalia Moreno brought the Crimson Storm to within one, 4-3. Kotova defeat Gloria Mayorga 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
And Moreno rallied from a one-set deficit to beat Elisabeth Dignard, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.
ECU had opened the final by taking two of the three available points in doubles. Bernardita Muscillo and Ghosh handed Atkeson and Sullivan an 8-0 loss at the No. 3 position. SNU picked up its point at No. 2 doubles when Polina Chala and Kotova topped Mayorga and Virginie Rodriguez 8-6,
Municoy and Dignard, the ninth-ranked doubles team in the Central Region gave the Tigers the lead after the doubled portion when they beat Andrianova and Moreno, the region’s sixth-ranked team, 8-6.
The Tigers will learn their postseason during the NCAA.com selection show. It airs online at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Arkansas Tech and Southeastern Oklahoma State could be in line for at-large selections.