MOBILE, Ala. – The second-seeded Lindsey Wilson tennis team defeated No. 3 seed Tennessee Wesleyan 4-1 in the NAIA Semifinals on Friday at the Mobile Tennis Center.
With the victory, the Blue Raiders advance to Saturday's championship match where they will face top-seeded Keiser (Fla.) at 1 p.m. CT. This is the first championship match appearance for Lindsey Wilson since 2017.
Mayra Gisone and
Martina Cortal (No. 6 doubles in NAIA) defeated Ivet Prat and Ruslana Kovalenko (No. 47) 6-2 at No. 2 doubles. Laia Berne and Honoka Tsuji evened up doubles with a 6-2 win at No. 3 over
Mariangeles Mateu and
Blanca Trillo Pita da Veiga (No. 38).
Javiera Verdugo and
Heyka Rodriguez (No. 3) clinched the doubles point for the Blue Raiders with a 6-4 victory over Olivia Alcala and Ana Serrano (No. 37) in the top-seeded match.
Verdugo (No. 12) increased the Lindsey Wilson lead to 2-0 with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win over Prat (No. 15) at No. 4 singles. Tennessee Wesleyan made it 2-1 with Alcala (No. 74) defeating Cortal (No. 51) 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 at No. 2. Gisone (No. 9) increased the Blue Raider lead to 3-1 with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Kovalenko (No. 36) in the top-seeded match.
For the second straight match, Mateu (No. 42) clinched the match for the Blue Raiders in a third-set tiebreak. She took the first set over Berne (No. 62) 6-4 at No. 3. Berne responded with a 6-3 victory in the second set. Mateu fell behind 3-0 in the set before rallying. In the tie break, Mateu won 7-5 to clinch the match and send Lindsey Wilson to the championship.
Lindsey Wilson faces Keiser for the NAIA Women's Tennis Championship on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT at the Mobile Tennis Center.
