MOBILE, Ala. – The third-seeded Lindsey Wilson women's tennis team defeated No. 6 seed Tennessee Wesleyan 4-3 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the NAIA national tournament at the Mobile Tennis Center. 

The win was clinched via tiebreak in the final singles match of the day by Darija Mladenovic on court four. 

In doubles action, Mariangeles Mateu and Heyka Rodriguez (No. 28 ranked doubles in NAIA) defeated Mercedes Chasset and Julia Richardet 6-4 on court two. The Blue Raiders eventually clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 victory from the No. 3 pairing of Anastasiia Ivanchenko and Martina Cortal.


Lindsey Wilson took the first singles point with an impressive comeback win on court 2. Mateu (No. 31 in NAIA) was down 5-1 in the first set and turned it around, winning 7-5, 6-0. 

The Bulldogs replied with a win in singles No. 1 where Olivia Alcala defeated Vorobiova. Laia Berne leveled the matchup 2-2 on court three over Reshma Challarapu 6-3, 6-4. Ivanchenko (No. 35) came back from a set down against Ivet Prat (No. 48) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. The victory restored Lindsey's lead with a 3-2 score. 

Rodriguez attempted to clinch the win for the Blue Raiders but fell in a final set tiebreaker against Raquel Canadas. This game made it all equal, bringing the match down to the wire on court 4. Mladenovic (No. 68) stepped up to the task and clinched the win on the final set tiebreaker (7-4) over Mercedes Chasset 7-5, 2-6, 7-6. 

The ladies are now 3-0 all-time against Tennessee Wesleyan with this latest victory sending the Blue Raiders to their 11th national semifinal all-time and first since 2018.

Even more remarkably, the program reached the 350th win benchmark and its 5th 20-win season!

The Blue Raiders advance to Friday's semifinals where they will face No. 2 seed Keiser (Fla.) at 1 p.m. CT.