BENTONVILLE, Ark. – After each already won earlier on Friday, Southern Nazarene and East Central advanced to the Great American Conference Women’s Tennis Championship final as both earned 5-4 victories at Memorial Park. SNU defeated top-seed Southeastern Oklahoma State and ECU edged Arkansas Tech.
Southern Nazarene, who entered the GAC Championships with just a 2-12 record, won for the second time within a nine-hour span to become the first team to defeat a No. 1 seed prior to the GAC Women’s Tennis Championship final. The Crimson Storm took a 2-1 lead following the doubles session. After dropping the No. 3 doubles contest 8-0, Masha Andrianova and Natalia Moreno combined for an 8-4 victory at the No. 1 position followed by Polina Chala and Karina Kotova scoring an 8-5 win at the No.2 slot.
The Crimson Storm again fell behind as they quickly dropped three singles contests. The Savage Storm trio of Milena Vietz, Conchi Assiego and Maria Martinez won at the No. 6, No. 5 and No. 4 positions, respectively, by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
Down 4-2, Moreno started the Crimson Storm comeback. Natalia Moreno defeated Ilga Racika-Racko, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 2 singles and Chala followed with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) win against Darija Catipovic at No. 3 singles.
The match came down to the three-set contest between Andrianova and Alexsandra Reljic at No. 1 singles. Andrianova scored a 7-5 win in the opening set, but dropped the second set 4-6. She broke Reljic late and finished off a 6-4 win in the closing set.
Southern Nazarene 5, Southeastern Oklahoma State 4 || East Central 5, Arkansas Tech 4
The other semifinal featured two of the league’s three co-regular-season champions, Arkansas Tech, eyeing a fourth straight appearance in the title game, took a 2-1 lead after doubles as Bohdana Sardak and Olga Leyshyna opened the doubles portion with an 8-2 win. ECU leveled the match when Bernardita Muscillo and Srijita Ghosh handed Vandella Suico and Laura Sanchez and 8-6 loss at the No. 3 position. The doubles wrapped up with ATU’s Tamara Bell and Camila Roca defeating Gloria Mayorga and Virginie Rodriguez, 8-6.
ATU’s Suico quickly gave the Golden Suns a 3-1 advantage following a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles. Mayorga bounced back from a loss in doubles to top Sanchez, 6-4, 6-1, in the contest at No. 4. Julia Municoy tied the match when she took down Bell, 7-5, 6-2, at the No. 1 position. Leyshyna added a singles win to her doubles triumph when she bested Elisabeth Dignard, 7-5, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
Ghosh and Muscillo scored the clinching victories for the Tigers. Ghosh rallied from losing her opening set to Roca, 0-6, and took the second and third sets by matching 6-1 scores. Muscillo and Sardak engaged in a marathon two-set met. Muscillo won the opener 7-5 and came back to take the second set 7-6 (7-4).
The Crimson Storm and Tigers will vie for the GAC Championship at 2 p.m. on Saturday. In the regular season, East Central won a 5-4 contest on April 7 in Bethany, Oklahoma.