BENTONVILLE, Ark. – For the fourth-straight year and for the sixth time in the eight-year history of the Great American Conference Women’s Tennis Championships, the top two seeds will meet for the title after No. 1 seed Southern Arkansas rallied to defeat No. 4 Arkansas Tech and No. 2 Harding eliminated No. 3 Oklahoma Baptist, the defending champions, on Friday from Memorial Park.
Playing in its first GAC Championship contest since suspending the program after the 2012 season, Southern Arkansas (23-3) found itself down 2-0 to the Golden Suns (12-7). In doubles play, Teresa Sanchez and Daniela Baez won at the No. 3 slot and Annabel Rowlands and Kami Ward emerged victorious at the No. 1 position to net the first point to the Golden Suns.
Sanchez followed up her doubles win with a convincing victory at No. 2 singles when she defeated Aurora Novati, 6-2, 6-1. SAU leveled the contest at 2-2 when two of its three All-GAC First-Team selections - Simone Simas and Angela Vargas - notched straight-set wins at No. 4 and No. 3 singles, respectively. Vargas, the league’s Freshman of the Year, won her matchup against Kami Ward by a 6-3, 6-3 count.
SAU-ATU Box Score || HU-OKB Box Score
Lena Milosevic continued the comeback as gave the Lady Muleriders their first lead of the match. She defeated fellow Second-Team All-GAC selection Rowlands in straight sets. Megan Bell’s 7-6, 7-6 win against Serena Gill at No. 6 singles push the match to the limit.
The fate of the match came down to the result at No. 1 singles between SAU’s Joanna Nowakowska and Katharina Drebka, a pair of unanimous First-Team All-GAC performers. Drebka grabbed the early lead by winning the opening set, 6-3. Nowakowska answered with a 6-1 win in the second set and a 6-2 win in the decisive set to complete the comeback.
In the other semifinal, Harding (16-5) handed Oklahoma Baptist (9-14) its first-ever loss at the GAC Women’s Tennis Championships to advance to the final for the third time in program history.
The Lady Bisons picked up the doubles point as Allison and Emily Carpenter posted a 6-2 win from the No. 3 spot and the nation’s No. 16 doubles team of Rylie Cox and Arisa Takanashi picked up a late break to defeat Ethne Dowling and Kim Moosbacher, 7-5, in the No. 1 doubles match.
Allison Carpenter opened singles play with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles to earn a second point for Harding. Takanashi pushed Oklahoma Baptist to the brink of elimination with a 7-5, 6-1 win at the No. 2 slot.
The Lady Bison picked up the next two points as they won a pair of three-set affairs. Madeleine Boepple took the third set from Lindy Carpenter, 6-4, to win at No. 5 while Alex Bowers scored a 6-2 win in the deciding set against Lindy Carpenter.
Hana Folse put an end to the Oklahoma Baptist comeback as she defeated Tahlia Walsh, 7-6, 7-6 from the No. 3 position. The win represented Harding's first in six tries against against Oklahoma Baptist.
The Lady Muleriders and Lady Bisons will meet in the final with an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament at stake. SAU enters the contest ranked fourth in the NCAA Central Region rankings while Harding checks in at eighth. The match begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday. During the regular season, SAU notched 4-2 win on April 2 in a meeting between two ITA Top 30 teams. In the latest national poll, SAU placed 25
th while Harding registered in 37
th.