Tweet #theGAC  BENTONVILLE, Ark. – For just the second time in program history, the Henderson State women's tennis team will be playing in the GAC Tournament semifinals after defeating Harding in the first round Friday afternoon, 4-1.

This is HSU's second all-time win in the GAC Tournament and its first win over Harding since 2018 - their first ever victory over the Lady Bisons in postseason action.

Similar to the season's first meeting where HU downed the Reddies at home, 4-3, Henderson started out claiming the doubles point. But this time, the GAC Coach of the Year-led team pulled it out in singles.

GAC Player of the Year Mulan Kamoe and All-Conference Second Team selection Kristina Kozlova continued their dominant play in doubles, blanking top Lady Bisons Grace Dodd and Georgia Plunkett, 6-0, in a match that only lasted 23 minutes.

Fellow-Second Teamer Jenna Kate Bohnert and Haarini Balakrishnan seized the match's first point with a 6-4 victory at the No. 2 line to hand HSU the early 1-0 advantage.

The Reddies opened singles play in dominant fashion, winning five of the six opening sets. The league's Newcomer of the Year Marianna Murcia defeated HU's Jing Yang at the No. 3 line, 6-0, 6-2, before Bohnert added the third point at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 6-3.

After Harding took the match at No. 6, HSU held a 3-1 lead as both Balakrishnan and Kozlova's matches went to a third set. No. 16 Kamoe, after taking her first set, 6-0, was in danger of going to a third set as well as the match stood at 4-4 in the second frame.

The Nasoso Nadi, Fiji, native put those third-set thoughts to rest after breaking Dodd's serve to get to 5-4 before holding true for the match-clinching sixth point. The win for Kamoe avenged her only conference loss of the season in either doubles or singles.

All four of Henderson's All-GAC player recipients took wins on the day to help the Reddies punch their ticket to the semifinals, where they will face the No. 1 seed Arkansas Tech Golden Suns tomorrow at 1 p.m.