Box Score OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - With a large contingent of teammates in attendance, No. 8/No. 8 seed William Woods University (3-1), the host of the 2025 ITA NAIA Team Indoor National Championship, wanted an upset, and the Owls got one in sweeping fashion with a 4-0 victory over No. 3/No. 4 seed Middle Georgia State University (0-3) in the consolations Saturday at Overland Park Racquet Club.

"I am so proud of the guys and the way they competed as a team today," William Woods tennis coach Abigail Lemberger Hughes said. "We went into today as the underdogs and were not expected to win. It's a big upset, and we proved how good we can be when we work together. I'm hoping we can go into tomorrow with the same mindset and energy."

Making the result over the third-ranked Knights historic, they were the highest-ranked NAIA team the eighth-ranked Owls have ever beaten in their nine-year history. William Woods surpassed its previous best top-ranked triumphs with a pair of 4-1 wins over two teams ranked No. 7 at the time: Southeastern University in the 2024 NAIA National Championships second round on May 14 in Mobile, Alabama and William Carey University in the Georgia Gwinnett Invite on March 5, 2023, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. 

Woods' record-book win displayed the challenge the college tennis points system brings. To secure the doubles point, your team must win two of the three matchups that occur simultaneously. While the six singles matches also happen all at once, each result gives the victor's team a point.

The doubles and singles contrasting points system came into play for the Owls and Knights on Saturday. After WWU's standout freshman duo of Aoi Ooka and Jesper Seger took a 6-2 decision over Duarte Mestre and Daniel García Suárez at the two line, MGA tied it at 1, with the Knights' No. 3 pair of Samyak Bajracharya and Neill Pillai beating Cole Horton and Paulo Lopes Ferreira 6-4 at the three.

With the two and three slots finalized, the Owls' No. 1 doubles team of Noah Burton and Robbie Schorr faced the Knights top team of Mauricio Olschansky and Adria Pratdepadua. Battling point for point, William Woods and Middle Georgia pushed to a tiebreaker for the doubles-deciding contest as the Owls led 6-5. With the Owls and Knights keeping a rally going, suddenly, Burton, close to the net on the right side, whacked the ball with his racket over his head and sent it to the opposite side of MGA's end. The Knights failed to return it, securing a 7-5 one-slot victory and a thrilling doubles-point triumph for The Woods.

Maybe getting that doubles point made the Owls more determined, as they never relinquished their lead nor lost a singles matchup after that. Horton, a freshman from St. Joseph - not too far from Overland Park - picked up WWU's first singles point, defeating Bajracharya 6-1, 6-1 in a quick 19 minutes at the four-line. Twenty-seven minutes later, the Owls were a point away from the sweep thanks to Seger winning 6-3, 6-4 over Olschansky in the five slot. 

Burton had already provided joy to his teammates watching earlier, but he wasn't done doing so. Ranked 40th in the latest ITA NAIA singles ranking, Burton showed that by locking down a William Woods 4-0 triumph, taking down Pratdepadua in three sets - 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 - at the two-line.

Riding superior form, the Owls come up against the No. 9/No. 7 seed University of Northwestern Ohio (1-1) in the fifth-place match at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.