RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech women's tennis team had a solid first day of the 2022 Great American Conference Women's Tennis Individual Championships as they will have representation in the main draw finals in four of the seven singles flights and two of the four doubles flights.
DAY ONE RESULTS
On the singles side,
Madalena Amil (Flight 3) and
Isabella Major (Flight 5) won a pair of matches to advance to the finals of their respective flights.
Daniela Baez (Flight 2) and
Meaghan Butler (Flight 6) took advantage of their first-round byes and won their lone matches of the day to advance to the finals in their flights.
Amil's road to the finals in flight 3 saw her battle back in each match after losing the first set. In her first match, she dropped the opening set 2-6, but bounced back in the second set, winning 6-1 and took the third set tiebreaker 10-5.
She will play for the Flight 3 Championship against Southeastern Oklahoma's Chiara Matteodo starting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Major would win both of her matches in straight sets but would need to win second set tiebreakers to do so. In her first match, Major won the first set, 7-5 and secured the win with a 7-6 (3) victory in the second set. In her second match, Major won the first set 6-3 and claimed the second set 7-6 (3).
Major will now play for the Flight 5 Championship against Harding's Jing Yang at 9:30 a.m.
Both Baez and Butler won their matches in straight sets with Baez winning 6-4, 6-4 and Butler winning 6-3, 6-3.
Baez will play for the Flight 2 Championship against Southern Arkansas' Len Milosevic starting at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Butler's Flight 6 Championship match will be against Harding's Ashley Nilsson at 9:30 a.m.
On the consolation side of the singles bracket, the Golden Suns will have at least two play in the finals of their respective flights with
Lea Grinberg (Flight 1) and
Maggie Holcomb (Flight 7) advancing. Grinberg did so with a 5-3, 4-2 win in her first consolation match.
She will play Henderson State's Mulan Kamoe at 9:30 a.m.
Holcomb won her first consolation match 5-3, 4-0 and received a bye into the finals. She awaits the winner of Henderson's Lily Winter and SAU's Inna Serpukhova, which is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Holcomb's match is scheduled for 11 a.m.
Melanie Griffiths (Flight 6) has yet to play a consolation match and will do so on Saturday against Henderson's Danna Nunez. That match is scheduled for 8 a.m. If she were to advance, the consolation final would take place at 11 a.m. against Ouachita's Taylor Hansard.
In doubles action, the pairings of
Lea Grinberg/
Daniela Baez (Flight 1) and
Melanie Griffiths/
Maria Krite (Flight 3) advanced to the finals with wins in their respective flights. Grinberg/Baez won their match 6-2 while Griffiths and Krite won 6-4.
Both doubles finals matches will be played starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
