PHOTO GALLERY | BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Harding completed an unblemished run against Great American Conference opponents as the Lady Bisons claimed the second GAC Women’s Tennis Championship title in program history by defeating second-seeded Southeastern Oklahoma State, 4-3, on Saturday from the Walton Life Fitness Center.
Trailing ever so briefly at 3-2, Alison Carpenter and Hana Folse won the final two singles matches to clinch the title for the Lady Bisons (16-2). Carpenter, playing at No. 6, recovered from losing the first set to Vanessa Cozamanis to take the final two sets, 6-2, 6-3. Folse won the first set against Elizaveta Tregubova in the No. 4 match. Tregubova answered with a 6-4 win in the second set. Folse notched the first five games in the third set and ultimately finished the match by the score of 6-2.
The Lady Bisons earned the doubles point after the tandems of Romane Britt and Lindy Carpenter and Rylie Cox Evans and Emily Carpenter recorded matching 6-4 wins from the No. 2 and No. 1 positions, respectively. The two teams ran their collective doubles record on the second to 23-4.
Britt picked up the first point of the singles matches when she bested Georgia Hosking, 6-1, 6-2 for her 15
th singles win in 16 matches. The Savage Storm (14-9) saw their first point come courtesy of Vanessa Nitu’s three-set victory from the No. 2 position. After losing the opening set to Emily Carpenter, she responded by taking the second set, 6-2, and decisive set, 6-3.
Zulay Castaneda defeated Cox Evans, the league’s Player of the Year, in straight sets to become the first GAC opponent to win against Cox Evans in a dual match since the SAU’s Joanna Nowakowska at the 2019 GAC Championships. The Savage Storm’s India Shiaelis improved her singles record to 18-1 when she bested Lindy Carpenter in three sets.
The Lady Bisons became the seventh No. 1 seed to win the GAC Championship in the nine renditions of the event and the fifth-straight top seed to claim the title. The 2021 GAC Championships represented the second-straight final decided by a 4-3 margin.
The Lady Bisons and Savage Storm will now await their NCAA postseason fate. They both entered the GAC Championships deemed “under consideration” in the NCAA Central Region rankings. The top five schools from the Central Region will earn spots in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA will announce the tournament field at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4.