SURPRISE, Ariz. - A familiar postseason foe once again spoiled a remarkable year for the Abilene Christian women's tennis program, as the third-ranked Seasiders of BYU-Hawaii topped the fifth-ranked Wildcats, 5-2, in a NCAA Championship semifinal played Friday at the Surprise Racquet & Tennis Complex.
ACU's magnificent spring, which included a 25th conference title and 25th appearance at the national tennis tournament, ends at 29-6 - a victory shy of the program's third 30-win season and first since 2006.
BYU-Hawai'i improved to 30-1 with the win and advances into Saturday's national title game for a rematch against last year's champions from Armstrong Atlantic. The Pirates today defeated Hawai'i Pacific in the other semifinal, 5-2.
"I could not be more proud of the quality of person and competitor we put on the court to represent ACU," said head coach
Hutton Jones. "The professionalism of this group of ladies will be hard to ever duplicate.
"My heart is full, and I feel blessed to have had the chance to coach this team as they won conference and regionals before making it here to the NCAA semifinals. This was truly a great team led all year by our seniors
Hannah Kelley,
Julia Mongin and her sister, Laura."
The Wildcats entered this afternoon's match having won their last 18 doubles contests, but going up against the nation's first and ninth-ranked combinations proved too tough a challenge for ACU's top-two pairings. Last year's all-America duo of Kelley and
Micah Hermsdorf were doubled up by No. 9 Marika Kobayashi and Marietta Tuionetoa, 8-4, to begin the dual, but ACU's No. 3 duo of
Kaysie Hermsdorf and
Laura Mongin tied the match at 1-1 following their defeat of Jade Griffin and Sasha Ulbrichtova, 8-5.
Kaysie Hermsdorf - a freshman - and
Laura Mongin - a senior - finished their first and only season together at 13-0.
At No. 1 doubles, ACU's fifth-ranked pairing of
Julia Mongin and
Brittney Reed nearly came all the way back from a 5-0 deficit, but the top-ranked duo of Annie Hwang and Sherry Liu prevailed in the end, 8-6, giving their team a 2-1 lead going into singles.
"There's no doubt in my mind that if we go up 2-1 after doubles, we win this match," said Jones. "No. 3 doubles took care of business, but we were struggling at No. 1 and 2 and that's because BYU was playing well and controlling the start of the points with great serves and returns. Winning the match was still doable from my perspective even though we were down 2-1, but just couldn't find four singles matches."
Hwang, who is ranked second nationally in singles, again beat
Julia Mongin at the top position, 6-1, 6-0, for the Seasiders' third point, and then Kobayashi came through with a 6-4, 6-4 decision over Reed.
Kelley pulled the Wildcats to within two points after beating Ulbrichtova, 6-3, 6-4, for her second straight tournament win and 15th of the season, but minutes later Liu clinched her team's final point with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 2 over
Micah Hermsdorf. Liu is sixth ranked player in all of D-II.
In the two matches that were left unfinished,
Laura Mongin was up a set on Tuionetoa at No. 4, while
Kaysie Hermsdorf was leading Griffin in the second set, 6-5. Both Wildcats finished tied for the team lead in wins with 20.
The Seasiders have now eliminated ACU seven times from the NCAA tournament, including the last two years in the semifinals. They also ousted the Wildcats from postseason play in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.
BYU-Hawai'i will thankfully be somebody else's problem from now on as ACU readies for its transition into D-I athletics and the Southland Conference, but the Wildcats' overall experience in D-II has been nothing but overwhelmingly positive.
In addition to the countless number of conference crowns and postseason appearances, the Wildcats also collected 49 all-America citations with the possibility of adding four more in the next couple of weeks. Additionally, eight ACU players have been named academic all-America since 1989, while dozens upon dozens more have been tabbed to an all-conference team.
ACU's final win-loss total in 38 years as a D-II member is a staggering 679-226-1 (.750), which includes a 61-2 (.968) record against conference teams during the regular season. In fact, the Wildcats have not lost a regular-season dual to a LSC school since 1984.
Julia Mongin, a four-time all-America and five-time regional champion who served as the Wildcats' No. 1 player since her sophomore year of 2011, finished her distinguished career with a combined singles and doubles record of 165-33 (.833). She received her third conference player of the year award last month, and earlier this week was given ACU's Paul Goad Award for being recognized as the school's top female student-athlete.
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#3 BYU-Hawaii 5, #5 Abilene Christian 2
May 10, 2013 at Surprise, Ariz. (Surprise Racquet & Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. #2 Annie Hwang (BYUH-WT) def. #15
Julia Mongin (ACUW) 6-1, 6-0
2. #6 Sherry Liu (BYUH-WT) def.
Micah Hermsdorf (ACUW) 6-2, 6-1
3. Marika Kobayashi (BYUH-WT) def.
Brittney Reed (ACUW) 6-4, 6-4
4. Marietta Tuionetoa (BYUH-WT) vs.
Laura Mongin (ACUW) 3-6, 5-4, unfinished
5.
Hannah Kelley (ACUW) def. Sasha Ulbrichtova (BYUH-WT) 6-3, 6-4
6. Jade Griffin (BYUH-WT) vs.
Kaysie Hermsdorf (ACUW) 6-4, 5-6, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #1 Annie Hwang/Sherry Liu (BYUH-WT) def. #6
Julia Mongin/
Brittney Reed (ACUW) 8-6
2. #9 Marika Kobayashi/Marietta Tuionetoa (BYUH-WT) def. #15
Micah Hermsdorf/
Hannah Kelley (ACUW) 8-4
3.
Kaysie Hermsdorf/
Laura Mongin (ACUW) def. Jade Griffin/Sasha Ulbrichtova (BYUH-WT) 8-5
Match Notes
Abilene Christian 29-6; National ranking #5
BYU-Hawaii 30-1; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,3,5,2)
2013 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Semifinals
