BENTONVILLE, Ark. – The 2023 Great American Conference Women's Tennis Tournament Championship played out as well as one would hope for and as good as any championship match should be as it all came down to a decisive third set of the final singles court in action.
Unfortunately, the No. 49-ranked and top-seeded Arkansas Tech women's tennis team came out on the short end of the match, ultimately falling to Southeastern Oklahoma, 4-3.
Leading up to that ultimate result, the Golden Suns pulled out the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.
In singles play, Southeastern quickly tied the score with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 4 singles. At No. 2 singles,
Daniela Baez pulled out the first set 7-6 by winning the tiebreaker 7-1 and carried that momentum into the second set as she dominated for a 6-1 win to seal the deal on her court.
Each of the remaining four singles matches on court all played to a third set and all did so with the Golden Suns overcoming losses in the first set.
At No. 1,
Lea Grinberg rallied from a 4-6 loss in the first set and won set two, 6-2. On down the line,
Aastha Dargude also forced her No. 3 singles match to a third set with a 6-3 win in set two.
Across No. 5 and No. 6 singles, the Golden Suns only won two games, but bounced back with clutch set two victories.
Sofia Beggiatto had the bigger mountain to climb as she lost her opening set 6-0. She then turned the tables and convincingly won her second set 6-1.
At No. 6,
Meaghan Butler lost her first set 6-2 and then rallied to win set two 7-5 to keep the thrilling match going.
With all four remaining matches now in their tiebreakers, it was shaping up to be a sprint to the finish.
Grinberg and court one were the first of those to come to competition with Grinberg falling 7-5.
Knotted in the overall match at two-all, Butler carried over her momentum from set two and won the tiebreaker easily 6-1 to give Tech their third point.
Minutes later, the match was tied again as Southeastern emerged victorious on court five.
Suddenly all eyes turned to court three where Dargude and Sara Gonzalez were deadlocked at four-all. Not long after that became the final match in action, Gonzalez took the advantage winning her fifth game. That advantage proved to be the final momentum swing that Southeastern needed as Gonzalez captured the next game to secure her match and clinch the overall team match for the Savage Storm.
The heartbreaking loss brings to a close the first season for head coach
Shaun Wiseman. In his first year, Wiseman, a Tech alum, won 12 total matches and helped guide the Golden Suns to a share of their first GAC Regular Season Championship since 2015.
