BENTONVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference Championship Tournament run for the No.4-seed Arkansas Tech women's tennis team continues after a 4-1 win against top-seeded Southeastern Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Golden Suns advance to the championship match at the GAC Tournament for the sixth time in program history. Their opponent will be No. 2-seed Henderson State, who will be making their first title match appearance.
The Golden Suns' upset of top-seeded Southeastern brought about some GAC history as it was just the second time the No. 1-seed lost in the semifinal. The previous other instance also involved Southeastern as Southern Nazarene beat the Savage Strom in 2015.
In Saturday's match, the Golden Suns took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. The second flight doubles pairing of
Lucia Perez and
Natalya Montoya were first to finish, winning 6-4. The clinching victory came as Tech's No. 29-ranked team of
Elis Gergel and
Rebecca Arnold won 6-3.
Arnold then turned around and dominated her No. 5 singles match, 6-1, 6-1 to put Tech up 2-1. Southeastern then secured their lone point of the match with a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles.
Montoya won her No. 4 singles match, 6-4, 6-1 to put the Golden Suns within a point of clinching the team match.
That final blow came at No. 2 as Perez won her match, 7-6 (7), 6-1.
