DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The top-seeded SCAD Savannah women's tennis team won all three doubles points and two singles matches to down second-seeded Embry-Riddle for the 2013 Sun Conference tournament title, Sunday at Embry-Riddle's Crotty Tennis Complex. Ranked fourth in the NAIA national poll, the Bees improved their overall record to 11-2 and secured an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship, which takes place at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Complex in Mobile, Ala., May 14-18.
The Bees jumped out to a 3-0 lead after sweeping all three doubles matches. Carolina Viteri and Andrea Gonzalez got an 8-4 win over
Ana Gonzalez-Hoy and
Meena Bennett at No. 3 doubles, while Maria Barragan and Daniella Arcila bested
Giovanna Tomiotto and
Paola Montero 8-2 at the second spot. At No. 1 doubles, Maja Plavsic and Theresa Schmaus, the defending ITA/NAIA National doubles champions, topped sixth-ranked
Hui-I Huang and
Kristina Marova 8-4 to complete the sweep.
At the fourth singles spot, Arcila blanked Tomiotto 6-0, 6-0 to increase the SCAD lead to 4-0. In her first set on court six, Bennett fell behind 5-2 to Gonzalez but rallied to win four of the next five games to force a tiebreaker, which she won 7-4. In the second set, Bennett jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never looked back, winning 6-3 in the final frame.
The remaining matches on the court were all close with flights two and three going to three sets and No. 1 singles going into a second-set tiebreak. On court five, Viteri was eventually able to clinch the SCAD victory, holding off Gonzalez-Hoy 7-5, 7-5.
The Eagles, ranked ninth nationally, are now 10-10 and will set their sights on an at-large bid to the national tournament.