CEDARVILLE, Ohio – A pair of quarterfinal and semifinal matches were completed during the first day of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship on Friday at Cedarville’s Johnson-Murdoch Complex.
When the dust cleared and the bracket was updated, the scene was set for tomorrow’s championship final, a 2014 rematch between No. 1 Cedarville and No. 2 Davis & Elkins.
The regular-season battle saw Cedarville best Davis & Elkins, 6-3, and the two teams will meet once again to play at 10 a.m. indoors from the Dayton Center Courts on Saturday.
In one quarterfinal draw, No. 3 Alderson Broaddus matched up against No. 6 Central State. Mia Fabrega lived up to her all-conference billing in today’s match being a part of the doubles squad with teammate Stephanie Gertsakis to win 8-1, and was leading her number two singles match against CSU’s NyAsia Taylor 6-0, 3-0, when Gertsakis finished her match 6-1, 6-0 over Renata Harris.
AB’s No. 3 singles performer Jordyn Walker was leading 6-0, 3-0, against Paris Nicks when the match was called early and the Battlers would face second-seeded D&E on short rest.
Davis & Elkins had some push from three-seed Alderson Broaddus in the doubles. G-MAC Player of the Year Julia Hoehn and D&E teammate Hali Michael beat AB’s Mia Fabrega and Stephanie Gertsakis, 8-3.
Michael led No. 2 singles 6-1, 3-1, against Fabrega, while Walker won the first set against D&E’s Chindalo before Hoehn completed her match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0.
In the other quarterfinal tussle, Kentucky Wesleyan and Ursuline squared off in a rematch that saw the Lady Panthers defeat the Arrows 7-2 in the regular season.
Ursuline took two of the three doubles matches, with the duo of Arrows’ G-MAC Freshman of the Year Roslyn Ng and Amanda Popik winning 8-4 over KWC’s Danielle Hadler and Krislyn Hudson in the No. 1 slot.
In No. 2 singles action, Popik undid Hudson by the scores of 6-1, 6-0, to grab an early 4-1 team lead. KWC stormed back with a pair of singles wins by the No. 3 and No. 5 competitors McNeil and Mckenzie Alvarez, respectively. Alvarez battled back from losing the first set to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Winning 4-3, Ng defeated KWC’s Hadler 6-2, 6-2, to take the victory and head to the semifinals against Cedarville.
Cedarville took advantage of the bye to see the courts for the first time as it took all three doubles matches 8-0 against Ursuline.
A pair of quick Lady Jackets’ singles wins ended the match and sealed the deal for Cedarville to head to the championship match. No. 2 singles Courtney Heydt took down UC’s Popik in straight sets while No. 3 singles Maryssa Herbert finished in similar fashion.
Matches that were in progress when Cedarville won its fifth and decisive match included top singles standout Lily Schuler leading Ursuline’s Ng 6-5 in the first set. No. 4 singles between Cedarville’s Kristen Heydt and Ursuline’s Caitlin Seese saw Heydt nearly complete the match winning the first set 6-0 and leading 5-0 in the second frame.