ACU women dominate Northeastern to win title

ACU women dominate Northeastern to win title

Wildcats avenge last year's loss to Lady Reds with 5-1 victory

ABILENE -- ACU continued its dominant season Friday afternoon as it beat Northeastern State, 5-1, at the ACU Tennis Courts to avenge last year's loss to the Lady Reds in the Lone Star Conference tournament final and claim this year's championship.

The Wildcats, now 21-5 on the season and ranked seventh in the nation, rolled to their 16th LSC championship since 1985 by winning two of three doubles matches and three singles matches. ACU won its three matches in the tournament by a combined score of 15-1.

The most intriguing match of the day was at No. 1 doubles where ACU's tandem of Kristen Chumley and Lacy Johnson battled Northeastern's No. 1 team of Evelina Akkers and Nevs Barbera for almost 90 minutes in muggy, overcast conditions. The teams battled back and forth before the Northeastern duo finally got the score tied at 6-6.

Akkers and Barbera then took a 7-6 lead before Chumley and Johnson once again got even at 7-7. Once the score was tied 8-8, the teams went to the pro-set tie-breaker, which Chumley and Johnson won 9-7 to take the 9-8 win and give ACU a 2-1 lead going into the singles matches.

Once the Wildcats got to the singles matches, the win was easy to come by. The Wildcats lost just seven points in the six games it took to put away the Lady Reds.

Andi Wildner won her match at No. 4, 6-1, 6-0, over Berit Itschert; Summer Beasley won at No. 5, 6-1, 6-2, over Jennie Howard; and Rachel Taylor won at No. 6, 6-1, 6-2, over Maja Nesic.

ACU, the No. 1-ranked team in the Central region, assured itself of hosting one of the two regional tournaments, which will be played next weekend. The rest of the tournament field will be announced Monday.

WOMEN

Championship

Abilene Christian 5, Northeastern State 1

Singles ­ Andi Wildner, ACU def. Berit Itschert, NSU, 6-1, 6-0; Summer Beasley, ACU def. Jennie Howard, NSU, 6-1, 6-2; Rachel Taylor, ACU def. Maja Nesic, NSU, 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles ­ Lacy Johnson-Kristin Chumley, ACU def. Evelina Akkers-Nevs Barbera, NSU, 9-8; Zorana Stefanovic-Berit Itschert, NSU def. Sarah Taweel-Andi Wildner, ACU, 8-4; Rachel Taylor-Joy Israel, ACU def. Maja Nesic-Amanda Jones, NSU, 8-2.