BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Oklahoma Baptist registered a 4-0 victory against Henderson State and Arkansas Tech notched a 4-2 win against Southeastern Oklahoma State in Thursday’s opening round matches of the 2019 Great American Conference Women’s Tennis Championships from the Walton Life Fitness Center.
The reigning GAC champion Lady Bison (9-13) remained undefeated all-time in GAC Championship play as they defeated Henderson State (4-11) for the fourth-straight time as league rivals.
Oklahoma Baptist secured the doubles points when the tandems of Madeleine Boepple and Alex Powers and Stefy Varon and Tahlia Walsh each posted 6-1 wins.
At No. 3 singles, Walsh scored the first singles point for the Lady Bison. She knocked off Lauren Miller in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. GAC Player of the Year Kim Moosbacher maintained her unblemished record against GAC foes after she defeated Sydnee Parker, 6-1, 6-3. Ethne Dowling clinched the first-round win when she beat Lorish Puluspene, 6-3, 6-2.
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The Golden Suns (12-6) advanced to the semifinals for the eighth-straight year, the only GAC women’s tennis team to boast this accomplishment. In the process, they handed Southeastern Oklahoma State (2-10) its first loss in the GAC quarterfinals in program history.
Arkansas Tech earned the doubles point when the No. 2 team of Katharina Drebka and Megan Bell and the No. 3 team and Teresa Sanchez and Daniela Baez scored 6-1 and 6-2 wins, respectively.
Tech’s Kami Ward tallied the first singles point of the match as she recorded a straight-sets win against Sara Dinovic, 6-2, 6-4. Chiara Berg registered the first point for the Savage Storm as she bested Drebka, 6-4, 6-3.
Sanchez picked up her second win of the day as she bounced back from dropping the second set against India Shiaelis to score a 6-2 victory in the third set. Nina Sergeev defeated Bell, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 6 singles before Baez closed out the match. She came back from a loss in the first set to Diana Budnik, 2-6, to take the second and third sets by matching 6-4 scores.
Semifinal action begins at 2 p.m. on Friday when the Golden Suns face top-seeded Southern Arkansas and the Lady Bison take on second-seeded Harding. SAU defeated Arkansas Tech, 5-2, on March 1. Oklahoma Baptist edged Harding 4-3 on April 12.