Championship Central |
Bracket
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – No. 13 University of Indianapolis defeated No. 14 Drury University 5-4 in dramatic fashion in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Tennis Championship Tournament Monday at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis, Missouri, to claim its league-best 10th title and second in three seasons.
UIndy scored the first point of the day at No. 1 doubles as GLVC Player of the Year Hanna Volikova and partner Florence Renard – the 22nd-ranked pair in the nation – upset #8 Drury’s Julia Schepp and Larissa Karl, 8-3. The Panthers responded by garnering the other two doubles points, including a come-from-behind 8-6 result at No. 2 doubles for Lara Muller and JiaQing Mo over UIndy’s Selenay Heper and Stephanie Hirsch. The No. 3 doubles point went to Panthers’ Josephine Jedrychowski and GLVC Freshman of the Year Chung-Yen Huang, 9-7, against Geryhounds’ Bella Bergman and Mara Hoffstetter.
Singles matches started with UIndy evening out the score at 2-2 after a No. 6 win for Heper, 6-3, 6-4, against Elizaveta Tregubova, who stepped into the spot for Schepp after she was removed from the lineup due to an injury in the doubles contest. No. 4 Volikova took the lead for the Hounds with her 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 44 Karl at No. 1 singles before Renard extended the lead to 4-2 with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Muller in the No. 2 slot. Jedrychowski brought the Panthers back within a point when she topped Hofstetter 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5 just before Mo tied it at 4-all following her 7-5, 6-1 win against Bergman in the No. 4 match.
The deciding contest came down to the No. 3 players, No. 24 Hirsch of UIndy – a senior – and Drury’s Huang – a freshman. Huang came out strong, winning the first set 6-0, but it was Hirsch who turned things around for a 6-2 win in the second set. All eyes were on this match in the third set, which began with a split at 4-4 before Hirsch was able to secure a 6-4 result to bring the trophy back to UIndy in her final season as a Greyhound.
At the conclusion of the Championship, UIndy head coach Malik Tabet was named GLVC Coach of the Year. His Hounds now await their NCAA Tournament seeding, which will be revealed in the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Selection Show on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.
Tennis Match Results
Drury University vs. Indianapolis
Apr 23, 2017 at St. Louis, MO
(Dwight Davis Tennis Center)
#13 Indianapolis 5, #14 Drury University 4
Singles Competition
1. #4 Hanna Volikova (UINDY) def. #44 Larissa Karl (DU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Florence Renard (UINDY) def. Lara Muller (DU) 6-4, 6-1
3. #24 Stephanie Hirsch (UINDY) def. Chung-Yen Huang (DU) 0-6, 6-2, 6-4
4. JiaQing Mo (DU) def. Bella Bergman (UINDY) 7-5, 6-1
5. J. Jedrychowski (DU) def. Mara Hofstetter (UINDY-W) 6-3, 6-1
6. Selenay Heper (UINDY) def. Elizaveta Tregubova (DU) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles Competition
1. #22 Hanna Volikova/Florence Renard (UINDY-W) def. #8 Julia Schepp/Larissa Karl (DU) 8-3
2. Lara Muller/JiaQing Mo (DU) def. Selenay Heper/Stephanie Hirsch (UINDY) 8-6
3. J. Jedrychowski/Chung-Yen Huang (DU) def. Bella Bergman/Mara Hofstetter (UINDY) 9-7
Match Notes:
Drury University 20-3; National ranking #14; Regional ranking #2
Indianapolis 17-3; National ranking #13; Regional ranking #1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,1,2,5,4,3)