Tweet #theGAC  BENTONVILLE, Ark. - The Harding women's tennis team defeated Henderson State 4-0 in the Great American Conference Tournament semifinals on Friday in Bentonville, to earn a spot in the championship for the fourth time since 2014. The Lady Bisons won the tournament in 2014 but fell in 2017 and 2019. The win was the seventh straight win over the Reddies and the ninth straight win overall for the Lady Bisons (15-2, 6-0).

The Lady Bisons started the match by winning the doubles point for the 14th straight match. Romane Britt and Lindy Carpenter earned their 12th win of the season with a 6-2 victory at No. 2. All-GAC Second Team honorees Hana Folse and Allison Carpenter secured the doubles point with their sixth straight victory at No. 3, winning 6-2. The win was Folse's 69th career doubles victory, moving her into a tie for fourth all-time in program history.

Allison Carpenter scored the second point of the match for the Lady Bisons with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 6. The win was Allison Carpenter's 11th of the season and ninth straight sets win. Lindy Carpenter followed her sister's victory with another straight set win at No. 5, 6-0, 6-3, for her ninth win of the season. Folse clinched the match with her tenth win of the season, and third in a row, with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 4.

The Lady Bisons will face Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday at 11 a.m. for the GAC Championship. The Savage Storm have beaten the Lady Bisons both times they have faced off in the GAC Tournament. Harding fell 5-1 in both meetings, including in the 2017 GAC Championship. The Lady Bisons defeated the Savage Storm 4-3 earlier this month, in their only matchup of the season. The winner will claim the GAC's Automatic Qualifier to next month's NCAA Tournament.

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Henderson State 4, Southern Arkansas 0

No. 5 Henderson State Reddies met No. 4 Southern Arkansas Muleriders in the first round of the Great American Conference Championships, marking the third time the two teams had played each other this year.

With each squad earning one win on the year, the Reddies broke the tie, as they defeated the defending GAC champs, 4-0, to head to the semifinals. The win marked HSU's first GAC Tournament win since 2017 and only its second tournament victory in the history of the league.

Henderson earned the doubles point with a pair of 6-3 wins at No. 1 from Mulan Kamoe and Franny Nyarko and at No. 2 from Georjemah Row and Katie Watts to secure the point and go ahead in the overall match, 1-0.

In singles play, true-freshmen Tori Johnson and Katie Watts tore through their respective first sets, seeing 6-0 wins before eventually taking straight-set victories at the Nos. 5 & 6 line, respectively. With HSU quickly jumping ahead 3-0, Nyarko gave the Reddies the clinch with a 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 3.