BOX SCORE || BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Southeastern Oklahoma State became the second Great American Conference school to win back-to-back Men’s Tennis Championship titles as the Savage Storm defeated Harding, 4-0, on Saturday from the Walton Life Fitness Center.
The Savage Storm (8-6) joined Ouachita as the league’s only repeat winners. The Tigers won the first four GAC Championships, 2012 through 2015. Southeastern pulled to within one of Ouachita’s GAC record for conference championship titles with three – 2016, 2018 and this year.
Southeastern earned a hard-fought doubles point off of the Bisons (13-7) as the won at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots after Harding’s Morgan Salvan and Alejandro Sendra notched a 6-1 win at No. 1. Danrich Kruger and Sandro Lena registered a 6-3 victory at No. 2 followed closely by the tandem of Juan Scoppetta and Milos Vuckovic edging Arthur Bellan/Luis Tirado, 7-6 (7-5).
In the singles competitions, Benji Finet knocked off Diego Pierola, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 5. Scoppetta, the GAC Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, picked up his second point of the match after he defeated Bellan, an All-GAC First-Team selection, 6-4, 7-5.
Kruger clinched the title with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Tirado at No. 4 singles.
The Savage Storm and Bisons will now await their NCAA postseason fate. They both entered the GAC Championships rated in the top six of the NCAA Central Region rankings as the Bisons placed third and the Savage Storm checked in at sixth. GAC regular-season champion Southern Arkansas began the week as the region’s No. 2 school.
The top four schools from the Central Region will earn spots in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA will announce the tournament field at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7.