GREENWOOD, Ind. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's tennis team captured its first Great Lakes Valley Conference championship on Sunday, defeating, UIndy, 4-2 in the championship match at Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Ind. The Tritons improve to 15-4 while the Greyhounds are 11-11.
UMSL, the number one seed from GLVC East Division, won the first point of the dual winning the first two doubles matches.
Hannah Tse and
Morgan Lint defeated Magda Kornijczuk and Silvia Zappoli 6-1 while
Aleksandra Lopez and
Millie Wileman beat Maelys Thiery-James and Liza Simak 6-2.
The Tritons carried that momentum into singles play as Lint won her match over Simak in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 to give UMSL a 2-0 lead in the match. Tse followed with a straight set win over Thiery-James by the score of 7-6 (7-3), 6-1. The Hounds, seeded second in the GLVC East, got wins from Sofia Cardenas as she beat
Giuliana Cunza 6-2, 6-4 and Zappoli defeated
Anna Favaron in straight sets 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
Wileman won her first set over Kornijczuk 6-4 but dropped the second 6-2 to force a deciding set. Wileman bounced back to win the finale 6-2 to clinch the first ever conference title in program history.
After the match, Tse, Lopez and Wileman were named to the All-Tournament team while head coach
Megan Holdridge was named the GLVC Women's Tennis Coach of the Year.
The win holds additional significance for UMSL as it secures the GLVC's automatic postseason bid for the NCAA Tournament. The Tritons, which were ranked fifth in the most recent NCAA Midwest Regional rankings, is now assured of its spot in the tournament field.
UMSL will find out its opponent and destination during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday evening at 7 p.m. (CDT) on NCAA.com. The Tritons are making their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and first since 2018.
