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Recap | Box Score

May 14, 2010

Armstrong Atlantic Women's Tennis Reaches National Championship Match

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - The top-ranked and two-time defending NCAA DII national champion Armstrong Atlantic State women's tennis team carried the momentum of a tough pair of doubles matches to complete a 5-0 victory over No. 9-ranked Hawai'i Pacific in the 2010 NCAA DII Women's Tennis Championship semifinals on Friday morning at Sanlando Park.

The Lady Pirates (32-0) advance to their 12th NCAA DII national championship match, where AASU will face No. 3-ranked BYU-Hawai'i, who knocked off Lynn by a 5-4 score also on Friday. It will be the fifth time that the two schools will meet in the title match. Hawai'i Pacific ends its season at 21-4.

AASU took a 3-0 lead in doubles in the match thanks to No. 3-ranked Martina Beckmann and Alida Muller-Wehlau's 8-2 win over No. 14-ranked Ingrid Cseh and Zora Vickova at No. 1 doubles. At No. 2 doubles, seventh-ranked Gabriella Kovacs and Sona Novakova spotted Alexandra Stankovic and Sandra Wikstrom a 7-2 lead, but then won seven straight games for a 9-7 victory. At No. 3 doubles, No. 23-ranked Kathleen Henry and Tina Ronel led 6-3 when Ronel slipped and fell chasing down a ball on the baseline. Shaken up briefly, HPU's duo of Nina and Tinka Mihova won the next three games to tie things up 6-6, but a break by the Lady Pirates stopped the streak and Ronel served out the 8-6 win.

In singles play, fourth-ranked Muller-Wehlau claimed a 6-2, 6-0 win over Nina Mihova at No. 2 singles, then Henry beat Wikstrom, 6-1, 6-4, at No. 5 singles to send the Lady Pirates into the national championship match.

This will be a meeting of the two teams who hold the most NCAA Division II women's tennis national championships - BYU-Hawai'i owns seven and the Lady Pirates have five. The last time the two teams met was in the 2008 NCAA DII Semifinals in Houston, Texas, a 5-1 win by AASU en route to a national title.

Live video coverage of the match will be provided by NCAA.com and live stats can be viewed at https://admin.xosn.com/fls/19500/2010NCAATennis/Wlive15.htm .